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Cowley Bridge Junction - likely to flood again?

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Goatboy

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The weather here in the South West has consisted of torrential rain for days. There is a severe weather warning in force today and two more for the 23rd and 24th, a pretty much carbon copy of the weather conditions exactly 1 year ago.

The consequences a year ago were widespread disruption due to flooding at Cowley Bridge Junction. Is there any indication we should expect the same again...?

Flooding has already closed the line between Newton Abbot and Paignton, which escaped unscathed last year!
 
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irish_rail

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Well lots of flooding around the river there was evident on thursday when I passed on route to the smoke. Not yet at track level, but looking at the weather forecast for next few days, id say it soon will be :(
 

alastair

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The weather here in the South West has consisted of torrential rain for days. There is a severe weather warning in force today and two more for the 23rd and 24th, a pretty much carbon copy of the weather conditions exactly 1 year ago.

The consequences a year ago were widespread disruption due to flooding at Cowley Bridge Junction. Is there any indication we should expect the same again...?

Flooding has already closed the line between Newton Abbot and Paignton, which escaped unscathed last year!

reopened 1 hr ago according to FGW on twitter
 

Rich McLean

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Cowley Bridge Jn is on watch by Network Rail at the moment. No threat of closure just yet, unless we get torrential downpours, but the river was swelled earlier passing it on the down
 
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Johnuk123

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What fool decided to put a river right next to an important railway line ?
 

HowardGWR

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What fool decided to put a river right next to an important railway line ?
Ho ho. Don't forget that another 'fool' put the Axe river next to the LSWR and last year the line was severed at the same time that the GWR was lost.

So no diversions. It looks as though the same thing could happen again as I live near both and the weather is diabolical at present.:cry:
 

Goatboy

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It's like a repeat of last year. Guess what, I have tickets for the 27th again :D
 

simon.exd

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I live near Stoke Canon, a few miles from Cowley Bridge..
The river is nowhere near as high as it was last year..

Its interesting that Network Rail are spending an awful lot of money on trying to prevent the events of last December.. All around the plains between Stoke Canon and Cowley Bridge there are drainage channels in the fields which over the years have become silted up and overgrown with trees.. It would seem to me that these need to be cleared and the rivers dredged, like they used to be.. in the same way that roads flood after a storm due to drains being blocked..
the water has nowhere to go and builds up..

Im pretty sure the owners of the land are responsible for maintaining the gulleys, in the same way that the owners of Stoke Canon mill are meant to dregde the river.. but of course they dont..
 

Rich McLean

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I live near Stoke Canon, a few miles from Cowley Bridge..
The river is nowhere near as high as it was last year..

Its interesting that Network Rail are spending an awful lot of money on trying to prevent the events of last December.. All around the plains between Stoke Canon and Cowley Bridge there are drainage channels in the fields which over the years have become silted up and overgrown with trees.. It would seem to me that these need to be cleared and the rivers dredged, like they used to be.. in the same way that roads flood after a storm due to drains being blocked..
the water has nowhere to go and builds up..

Im pretty sure the owners of the land are responsible for maintaining the gulleys, in the same way that the owners of Stoke Canon mill are meant to dregde the river.. but of course they dont..

Storms and torrential downpours are predicted from Monday, so will be interesting to see what happens. I am down in Devon currently, but am prepare for bustitutions
 

simon.exd

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Storms and torrential downpours are predicted from Monday, so will be interesting to see what happens. I am down in Devon currently, but am prepare for bustitutions

Eeekk!! Hope you get home ok.. im quietly optimistic, last year the ground was saturated, our fields were a complete mess, this year the ground is wet but nothing like last year!
 

47245

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It's quite normal for the fields next to Cowley Bridge to flood during heavy rain but it takes an exceptional amount of rainfall combined with already saturated ground to flood the rail line which was the case last year.
 

Goatboy

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I hope if they do close the line again they don't abandon Tiverton Parkway and start/finish everything at Taunton - being able to drive part of the way and leave the car at Tiverton Parkway would have been an ideal option last time.
 

221129

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I hope if they do close the line again they don't abandon Tiverton Parkway and start/finish everything at Taunton - being able to drive part of the way and leave the car at Tiverton Parkway would have been an ideal option last time.

Last time they had a mix. Most FGW HSTs from PAD came to Tiverton. XC Went to Taunton.
 

HowardGWR

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Last time they had a mix. Most FGW HSTs from PAD came to Tiverton. XC Went to Taunton.
Of course the point I made Ollie, was that they could not send anything up the LSWR via Yeovil either for a good portion of the time, because the line north east from Axminster was severed by the Axe flood at Broom Lane LC.

The SWT laid on buses from Exeter with a 'fast' and an 'all stations' version which worked very well.
 

class57basher

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Passed New Yard on Thursday and the Flood Boom or Network Rail Sausage was blown up. Assume testing for leaks
 

455driver

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I hope if they do close the line again they don't abandon Tiverton Parkway and start/finish everything at Taunton - being able to drive part of the way and leave the car at Tiverton Parkway would have been an ideal option last time.

They couldnt get from Taunton to Tiverton PW last time because the line was damaged, Tiverton PW is much more convenient and is used when available, last time (for a week or so) it wasnt available. They tried sending a HST down there as a aproving run and all it did was prove the line was not in a fit state.
 

fairysdad

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Why can't FGW divert via Yeovil to Castle Cary if the line gets flooded at Cowley Bridge Junction?
They do - if you read the posts above, last year was exceptional in that there was also flooding on that line at Axminster which meant that both the GW and LSWR routes out of Exeter were cut off. Quite a logistical mess last year if I recall!

ADDITION - I realise the beginning part of that probably sounded a bit rude... I apologise, I didn't mean it to sound that way!
 
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Rich McLean

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Why can't FGW divert via Yeovil to Castle Cary if the line gets flooded at Cowley Bridge Junction?

SWT-Network Rail Alliance prevented it at it was short notice, Plus you have to find drivers and crew who's route knowledge is up to date

For the diversions in January, this has been pre-arranged, with a reduced level of service
 

TEW

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Crew knowledge for diverting via Yeovil is not particularly problematic, all Exeter HSS crew sign the route and Plymouth guards do too. There have been diverts at short notice in the past, and there were a limited number when Cowley Bridge flooded last year.
 

simon.exd

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SWT-Network Rail Alliance prevented it at it was short notice, Plus you have to find drivers and crew who's route knowledge is up to date

For the diversions in January, this has been pre-arranged, with a reduced level of service

I may be wrong, it does happen a lot, but i think there have been route learning runs up the mule using a 150 or something similar..

If only the mule was redoubled all the way, this surely has to happen one day...

Fields between Stoke Canon and Cowley are looking wet at the mo, but nothing like they were last year when everything flooded...
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I hope if they do close the line again they don't abandon Tiverton Parkway and start/finish everything at Taunton - being able to drive part of the way and leave the car at Tiverton Parkway would have been an ideal option last time.

There was talk of reopening stoke canon station with provision for running services to and from here in the event of the line closing at Cowley Bridge.. based on the fact that it is only a few miles from exeter..
I would like to see the station reopened so that I could get the train into Exeter!!
 

TEW

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I may be wrong, it does happen a lot, but i think there have been route learning runs up the mule using a 150 or something similar..
There have been 150s and 153s running Exeter-Castle Cary and return some evenings recently but it doesn't seem frequent enough to be for route learning, it could well just be refreshers.
 

Rich McLean

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Flooding between Exeter and Barnstabe now.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Today:

BcPjKl6IcAA9JFP.jpg


Will be a while until that re-opens. New year possibly
 

HowardGWR

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I don't see any signs of either SWT or FGW diversions up the LSWR via Yeovil (SWT service is at a standstill) so I am wondering if this line is blocked somewhere there too?
 

TEW

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Apparently there is an earthslip somewhere along the route.
 
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FGW drivers (Exeter based) are route learning into Waterloo for when Reading is closed again some time in 2014. I am not sure if it is just between Westbury - Sailsbury and into Waterloo or if it includes Exeter - Yeovil. I would have though that some drivers are maintained route knowledge of Exeter - Castle Cary Via Yeovil Junction & Pen Mill.
 

Goatboy

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Open again. Outstanding work from Network Rail.

I suspect it'll be shut again on Friday given the weather, but hey :D
 

embers25

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Open again. Outstanding work from Network Rail.

I suspect it'll be shut again on Friday given the weather, but hey :D

I'm the first to criticize Notwork Fail but that is a huge achievement and also shows their plan worked.
 
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