If Lyme Regis Branch had survived

[delt1c]

Yes, you could have a full width version of the Hastings units with perhaps some shorter DEMU portions attached for branchline services. Through connections between units wouldn't have been possible, but it wouldn't have been a great leap to design a version of the 2H with internal connections.

You could have had a 6B Hastings unit made as a 4B +2S with inner cabs similair to the CEP so they were gangwayed within the unit but could be Split and continue as 2 units, Fantasy yes but isnt that how Holywood blockbusters are made, Fantasy.

 

[yorksrob]

You could have had a 6B Hastings unit made as a 4B +2S with inner cabs similair to the CEP so they were gangwayed within the unit but could be Split and continue as 2 units, Fantasy yes but isnt that how Holywood blockbusters are made, Fantasy.

Well indeed. And none of it that far fetched (particularly had the calamity of having everything West of Salisbury transferred to the Western Region, not occurred).

 

[Taunton]

I can just about recall early visits to Sidmouth, by road. The station, which you pass on the way in, always had one or more 80xxx standing around, which is the tank engine equivalent of a Black 5, able to handle 11 coaches (as they did on Waterloo ecs), running with two, or even single, coach trains. Out of season the coaches might outnumber the passengers. Just a couple of miles up the line at Tipton St Johns and it was either change and wait, or shunting the single carriage onto the back of a service from Exmouth, while a second, and if there was a service passing in the opposite direction a third, 80xxx hung around.

I seem to recall it would have been a right nuisance to get to from Taunton, changing at Exeter, because the connections at Sidmouth Junction were built around trains from Waterloo. So it could have taken half a day to get there. By car it was about an hour.

 

[341o2]

Well indeed. And none of it that far fetched (particularly had the calamity of having everything West of Salisbury transferred to the Western Region, not occurred).

The real calamity was the withdrawal of the Atlantic Coast Express in 1964. Without it the branch lines could not survive on the traffic generated, rather like the diversion of the Pines Express off the S&D was the beginning of the end for that line

 

[yorksrob]

The real calamity was the withdrawal of the Atlantic Coast Express in 1964. Without it the branch lines could not survive on the traffic generated, rather like the diversion of the Pines Express off the S&D was the beginning of the end for that line

It's certainly difficult to see the branches thriving with the mainline in its rationalised form. They would certainly need to have linked into some form of express service.

 

[30907]

The real calamity was the withdrawal of the Atlantic Coast Express in 1964. Without it the branch lines could not survive on the traffic generated, rather like the diversion of the Pines Express off the S&D was the beginning of the end for that line

But Lyme Regis wasn't an ACE destination for most of its life, and the all-year through coach from/to London went before the ACE did. Arguably the regular semi fast service at its best offered Axminster a much better deal than the SR's 3 per day (4 from 1957)

 

[yorksrob]

Having looked at my online map, I must admit that whilst Sidmouth is a bit of a traipse from the beach, it does appear to be sited in the middle of a fairly substantial built up area. Perhaps this would have generated a reasonable amount of traffic itself.

 

[30907]

It is now, but was it then? At a quick glance the infill between Sidmouth and Sidford looks post closure. I wonder what the balance between commuter and retirement housing is?

 

[yorksrob]

It is now, but was it then? At a quick glance the infill between Sidmouth and Sidford looks post closure. I wonder what the balance between commuter and retirement housing is?

True, there appear to be a few bungalows. Nevertheless, if the route could have been kept going like the Looe branch, we would probably be reaping the rewards.

 

[30907]

True, there appear to be a few bungalows. Nevertheless, if the route could have been kept going like the Looe branch, we would probably be reaping the rewards.

I agree - trouble is, Looe survived because the roads are awful and the parking dire. Sidmouth to Exeter/M5 is much better. Shame, but...

 

[yorksrob]

I agree - trouble is, Looe survived because the roads are awful and the parking dire. Sidmouth to Exeter/M5 is much better. Shame, but...

Indeed, but I wonder how many people using the Looe branch today, do so because the roads are dire, or because there is a handy rail link to the main line. Remember that the only allowable reason for advising against closure by a TUCC was "hardship". Had other reasons been allowed, they may have been better at forseeing the sort of flows we see today.

 

[FenMan]

I agree - trouble is, Looe survived because the roads are awful and the parking dire. Sidmouth to Exeter/M5 is much better. Shame, but...

My parents live a short stroll from the old Sidmouth station. The town has an excellent bus service to Exeter - the service is 2ph all day, dropping to 1ph in the evenings. The last bus from Exeter is the 23:35 arriving in Sidmouth at 00:13, which is very competitive with travelling by car.

There is also an hourly bus service from Sidmouth to Honiton station, although this service finishes much earlier in the evening.

From memory (I'm old enough to have travelled to Sidmouth by train when a young boy) the rail connections were nowhere near as comprehensive.

 

[rogACE]

Lyme Regis branch may have had some success as a steam heritage line -- but like sidmouth the station is not well suited for the town and seafront unlike swanage
nothing at combpyne - camping coach there in old days

I do not think under pre or post privatization that lyme or sidmouth would benefit from still being attached to the big railway because of both the stations remote locations and there is no car parking around them

the seaton branch has done well since closure with the tramway to colyton but no point at all venturing to seaton Jct as there is simply nowt there!
seaton pre beeching was busy in the summer with holiday traffic to the warners camp there and the budleigh littleham branch did well with the huge sandy bay caravan park where i spent all my summer hols there traveling down to lill'ham by the ACE from waterloo

here's my short story about those time - hope you like!

http://www.atlantic-coast-express.co.uk/ace-2/ace-6

 

[Ash Bridge]

Thankyou very much for sharing that wonderful journey on the ACE, probably at the top of my list of bygone trains that I would have given virtually anything to have been able to travel on. I was completely immersed there for 10 mins or so, a thoroughly enjoyable read!

 

[randyrippley]

I seem to recall it would have been a right nuisance to get to from Taunton, changing at Exeter, because the connections at Sidmouth Junction were built around trains from Waterloo. So it could have taken half a day to get there. By car it was about an hour.

Surely the obvious route then would have been via Chard Junction?

 

[JohnR]

Yes, before the lines West of Salisbury were transferred to the Western Region, the Southern had plans to dieselise all the East Devon lines, using units similar to the Hampshire Units. A new depot was to be built in the 'V' of Exmouth Junction (opposite the steam shed). It also included plans to increase the frequency on the Exmouth branch to every 20 minutes, by rebuilding Woodbury Road (now Exton), and turning it into an island platform.

 

[Cowley]

Yes, before the lines West of Salisbury were transferred to the Western Region, the Southern had plans to dieselise all the East Devon lines, using units similar to the Hampshire Units. A new depot was to be built in the 'V' of Exmouth Junction (opposite the steam shed). It also included plans to increase the frequency on the Exmouth branch to every 20 minutes, by rebuilding Woodbury Road (now Exton), and turning it into an island platform.

I didn’t know that about Exton. Very interesting.

 

[30907]

Surely the obvious route then would have been via Chard Junction?

Only if you had all day - look at an old timetable!
Though ISTR there were Taunton-Seaton Bank Holiday excursions.

 

[FQTV]

Lyme Regis branch may have had some success as a steam heritage line -- but like sidmouth the station is not well suited for the town and seafront unlike swanage
nothing at combpyne - camping coach there in old days

I do not think under pre or post privatization that lyme or sidmouth would benefit from still being attached to the big railway because of both the stations remote locations and there is no car parking around them

the seaton branch has done well since closure with the tramway to colyton but no point at all venturing to seaton Jct as there is simply nowt there!
seaton pre beeching was busy in the summer with holiday traffic to the warners camp there and the budleigh littleham branch did well with the huge sandy bay caravan park where i spent all my summer hols there traveling down to lill'ham by the ACE from waterloo

here's my short story about those time - hope you like!

http://www.atlantic-coast-express.co.uk/ace-2/ace-6

What an absolutely lovely account of your journey. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Bevan Price]

Only if you had all day - look at an old timetable!
Though ISTR there were Taunton-Seaton Bank Holiday excursions.

Took a look at the Souhern Region 1959 timetable. You could get from Sidmouth to Taunton via Chard in about 4 hours, with a maximum stay of about 2 hours if you wanted to return on the same day. Would have been much easier & quicker to go via Exeter.

And returning to the Lyme Regis branch - I think that through trains from London would possibly have required a double reversal movement to access the branch

 

[JohnR]

Took a look at the Souhern Region 1959 timetable. You could get from Sidmouth to Taunton via Chard in about 4 hours, with a maximum stay of about 2 hours if you wanted to return on the same day. Would have been much easier & quicker to go via Exeter.

And returning to the Lyme Regis branch - I think that through trains from London would possibly have required a double reversal movement to access the branch

Through coaches were dropped off in the down main platform, and then shunted into the bay where they were then attached to the branch train. There WAS a direct connection to the branch, through the down side goods yard, but it was quite sharp and disconnected in 1915 ISTR.

 

[backontrack]

Touring the branches of the Dorset Coast sounds like it would have been a nice way to spend a week !

Indeed!

Bridport would probably have survived too - it carried on for a long time as it is.

 

[30907]

Indeed!
Bridport would probably have survived too - it carried on for a long time as it is.

It had the advantage that the "parallel" roads were typical Dorset lanes and bus replacement wasn't an option at first - but the disadvantage that Maiden Newton wasn't where people wanted to go.

Took a look at the Souhern Region 1959 timetable. You could get from Sidmouth to Taunton via Chard in about 4 hours, with a maximum stay of about 2 hours if you wanted to return on the same day. Would have been much easier & quicker to go via Exeter.

I was a little unfair - if the connections worked, it only took 2 1/2 hours, so you could leave Sidmouth at 7.45pm and be in Taunton at 10.16. And there was a convenient train from Taunton at 8.30am which only took about 3 hours. So you could have a very long day at the seaside.

 

[randyrippley]

It had the advantage that the "parallel" roads were typical Dorset lanes and bus replacement wasn't an option at first - but the disadvantage that Maiden Newton wasn't where people wanted to go.

Bridport line only survived because the local bus company - Pearce's - didn't have the resources and didn't want to run the route as it didn't make commercial sense. No-one was going to ride a bus to Maiden Newton when Dorchester and Crewkerne were the local market towns.
Besides which, when they finally did run a rail replacement service no-one liked riding on their old Bedford SB's with truck suspension.
Potted history of Pearce is at http://www.countrybus.com/pearce.htm

 

[Cowley]

Lyme Regis branch may have had some success as a steam heritage line -- but like sidmouth the station is not well suited for the town and seafront unlike swanage
nothing at combpyne - camping coach there in old days

I do not think under pre or post privatization that lyme or sidmouth would benefit from still being attached to the big railway because of both the stations remote locations and there is no car parking around them

the seaton branch has done well since closure with the tramway to colyton but no point at all venturing to seaton Jct as there is simply nowt there!
seaton pre beeching was busy in the summer with holiday traffic to the warners camp there and the budleigh littleham branch did well with the huge sandy bay caravan park where i spent all my summer hols there traveling down to lill'ham by the ACE from waterloo

here's my short story about those time - hope you like!

http://www.atlantic-coast-express.co.uk/ace-2/ace-6

I finally got around to reading this today.
Very enjoyable, thanks for sharing it.

 

[randyrippley]

Just a thought on the Lyme Regis line....considering the problems that were found in finding locomotives that could cope with the inclines and tight curves, would it really have worked as a steam heritage line? The number of potential locos to work it would have been very small

 

[30907]

Just a thought on the Lyme Regis line....considering the problems that were found in finding locomotives that could cope with the inclines and tight curves, would it really have worked as a steam heritage line? The number of potential locos to work it would have been very small

The curves were eased to allow the Ivatt 2MTTs and later 14xx (?) but I agree it would have been an unlikely candidate. rogACE says as much.

 

[yorksrob]

The curves were eased to allow the Ivatt 2MTTs and later 14xx (?) but I agree it would have been an unlikely candidate. rogACE says as much.

Pity they never tried it with a bubble car.

 

[Ash Bridge]

Pity they never tried it with a bubble car.

If I'm not mistaken I think in it's latter years the Axminster - Lyme Regis branch service was in the hands of class 121/122 railcars Rob, having said that I'm currently scouring my books trying to find an image to confirm it.

 

[Cowley]

If I'm not mistaken I think in it's latter years the Axminster - Lyme Regis branch service was in the hands of class 121/122 railcars Rob, having said that I'm currently scouring my books trying to find an image to confirm it.

Indeed they were, and not just Bubbles but 118s too. I’ve just blatantly ripped off a couple of photos from the interwebnet to prove it...
Here’s a photo by Robert W Carroll of a 118 at Lyme Regis.


And here’s a photo by erm ‘Fatbusbloke’ (sometimes parents can be so cruel), of a class 122 Bubble waiting for your custom in the bay at Axminster...