Stopping Services Through Dawlish And Teignmouth ĺ

[RichmondCommu]

Hi everyone,

My hugely enjoyable train journey down to St Austell last Tuesday brought back wonderful memories of spotting trains at Teignmouth in the early 1980s. Can anyone help with the following;

Which local services were in the hands of class 118 DMU's.

Which local services were powered by class 33s.

Which Intercity services stopped at local stations and whether they alternated between Dawlish and Teignmouth through out the day.

Many thanks,

Angela

 

[Cowley]

Hi everyone,

My hugely enjoyable train journey down to St Austell last Tuesday brought back wonderful memories of spotting trains at Teignmouth in the early 1980s. Can anyone help with the following;

Which local services were in the hands of class 118 DMU's.

Which local services were powered by class 33s.

Which Intercity services stopped at local stations and whether they alternated between Dawlish and Teignmouth through out the day.

Many thanks,

Angela

Evening Angela.

Your local Exeter to Paignton services were generally operated by class 118s (before the whole ‘Skipper/142 debacle of course). Some (although not many) of these services would have originated from Barnstaple or possibly Exmouth.
The British Telecom yellow liveried class 118 unit was often used on these diagrams providing a rare splash of colour amongst the BR blue.

Some of the peak hour services however were loco hauled - for instance the 1725 Exeter - Paignton was usually a class 33 but could also produce a 31, in fact going further back it often had a Laira class 25 in charge.
There was an opposite working (maybe the 16:35 Paignton - Exeter SD?) which was generally a Laira class 50.
These services were formed of blue and grey mk1s from what I remember.

A couple of the morning peak hour services were locomotive hauled too from memory (I seem to recall that one of them was a set of mk2s from Laira that would then head to Waterloo, and that it was diagrammed for a pair of 50s in the late 1980s. Does anyone else remember this?).

As far as Intercity services go, it was generally a summer timetable thing for loco hauled long distance services to stop at Dawlish and Teignmouth (and also Dawlish Warren). Mostly these stations were served by local trains (118s) in the winter timetable.
In summer if a train stopped at Dawlish then it always stopped at Teignmouth and nearly always stopped at Dawlish Warren too.
Quite often when stopped at Dawlish Warren another train would pass through on the fast lines, and if you were sitting on the beach at Dawlish as I did for many weekends as a youngster back then (perhaps we were sitting next to your family ), you could see long locomotive hauled trains of 12 mk1s full of holiday makers with a Peak/47/50 etc waiting at various signals along the sea wall waiting to proceed.

I don’t think there’s anywhere else quite like it, and I still go down there as often as possible to sit on the beach with a pasty watching the trains go by...

Did you used to come down often back then?

 

[30907]

Definitely correct about the Waterloo sets - they stabled at Newton Abbot until that closed, then at Laura, and at least the set for the 07xx Up ran passenger from NTA. I think by the 80s the set for the 10xx Up worked down from Salisbury, but previously that, too, had stabled in Devon.

My memory is that, during the week, there have occasionally been trains that served only one of Dawlish and Teignmouth, but that could have been any time in the last 50 years! And the Warren traditionally got class 1 trains only on Saturdays (changeover day on the caravan sites!), but again that has changed.

I'll see what timetables I can dig out later, if no-one beats me to it.

 

[RichmondCommu]

Hi everyone,

My hugely enjoyable train journey down to St Austell last Tuesday brought back wonderful memories of spotting trains at Teignmouth in the early 1980s. Can anyone help with the following;

Which local services were in the hands of class 118 DMU's.

Which local services were powered by class 33s.

Which Intercity services stopped at local stations and whether they alternated between Dawlish and Teignmouth through out the day.

Many thanks,

Angela

Oooops!

 

[RichmondCommu]

Evening Angela.

Your local Exeter to Paignton services were generally operated by class 118s (before the whole ‘Skipper/142 debacle of course). Some (although not many) of these services would have originated from Barnstaple or possibly Exmouth.
The British Telecom yellow liveried class 118 unit was often used on these diagrams providing a rare splash of colour amongst the BR blue.

Some of the peak hour services however were loco hauled - for instance the 1725 Exeter - Paignton was usually a class 33 but could also produce a 31, in fact going further back it often had a Laira class 25 in charge.
There was an opposite working (maybe the 16:35 Paignton - Exeter SD?) which was generally a Laira class 50.
These services were formed of blue and grey mk1s from what I remember.

A couple of the morning peak hour services were locomotive hauled too from memory (I seem to recall that one of them was a set of mk2s from Laira that would then head to Waterloo, and that it was diagrammed for a pair of 50s in the late 1980s. Does anyone else remember this?).

As far as Intercity services go, it was generally a summer timetable thing for loco hauled long distance services to stop at Dawlish and Teignmouth (and also Dawlish Warren). Mostly these stations were served by local trains (118s) in the winter timetable.
In summer if a train stopped at Dawlish then it always stopped at Teignmouth and nearly always stopped at Dawlish Warren too.
Quite often when stopped at Dawlish Warren another train would pass through on the fast lines, and if you were sitting on the beach at Dawlish as I did for many weekends as a youngster back then (perhaps we were sitting next to your family ), you could see long locomotive hauled trains of 12 mk1s full of holiday makers with a Peak/47/50 etc waiting at various signals along the sea wall waiting to proceed.

I don’t think there’s anywhere else quite like it, and I still go down there as often as possible to sit on the beach with a pasty watching the trains go by...

Did you used to come down often back then?

Hi Mr C,

Many thanks for your lengthy reply. I camped near Teignmouth twice with my brother and two of his mates; once in 1982 and once again in 1984. I do seem to remember being very lucky with the weather on both occasions.

Given the close proximity of the three stations I'm surprised that Intercity services stopped at all three stations. I'm pretty certain that we travelled down from Derby by HST.

Thanks again,

Angela

 

[Taunton]

Back in the 1960s at Taunton it was a constant refrain on the loudspeakers (nobody called them PA in those days) about express trains "... calling at Exeter St Davids, Dawlish, Tin'muth, Newton Abbot ...". Went back to GWR days I think. Torbay line trains invariably did.

Regarding the Waterloo sets, when the Southern ended with steam in 1967 they did likewise with their own steam heated stock, but the Warships on the route were only steam heat, so all the stock then got provided by the WR. Exeter St Davids, surprisingly, had never had much main line servicing provision, both for carriages and locos, things in the area were done down at Newton Abbot (likewise there was no real capability down the Torbay line), so that was their base, and when that was run down their work moved to Plymouth.

As Gerry Fiennes said in his book, after a meeting with Devon MPs when he was General Manager of the WR, "... in passing, future GMs of the WR, NEVER call the line from Newton Abbot to Paignton 'the branch' ".

 

[43068]

...brought back wonderful memories of spotting trains at Teignmouth in the early 1980s....

Was your brother @RichmondCommu?

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the sea wall at Teignmouth. The signals and the trains have changed since I used to trainspot there in early 1980s but nothing else appears to have changed.

 

[RichmondCommu]

Was your brother @RichmondCommu?

No! My brother has no interest in Internet forums. The wall was always popular with spotter's though.

 

[30907]

Given the close proximity of the three stations I'm surprised that Intercity services stopped at all three stations.

Thanks again,

Angela

Dawlish and Teignmouth are quite separate towns, and Warren has a high density of mobile homes or whatever they are currently called.

 

[30907]

I've now dug out 1982 and 1987 timetables.

1982 - what's immediately obvious is how few locals there were! It was, though, "peak HST", with Dawlish and Teignmouth getting London trains every couple of hours plus some Cross Country trains called there.
Departures of local trains from St Davids, generally all stations to Paignton:
0700 Penzance
0755, 0932, 1010 summer, 1255, 1456,1623, 1720, 1945
2110 Dawlish, Teignmouth, Newton only (Waterloo set)
Arrivals:
0720 Plymouth (Waterloo set)
0822, 1306, 1450, 1643, 1744, 1843, 1916, 2337.

There is no way of identifying hauled local workings from the public timetable. However by 1987 most/all DMUs were Standard only, so I've marked H against those which advertised First

0702H Penzance (the set had worked the 0405 Barnstaple news)
0750H, 0822, 0930H summer, 1010, 1100, 1320H, 1452,1652, 1725H, 1818, 1945
1919H, 2010, 2151H (Waterloo) all to NTA.

Arrivals:
0655, 0730 ex Totnes (Waterloo), 0821, 0913H, 1020, 1124H, 1153, 1437, 1625H, 1655, 1747H, 1846, 1953, 2340.
The 0913 and 1747 appear to have part of a diagram involving the 1203 Portsmouth Harbour-Paignton and 1105 Exeter-Portsmouth, which would account for the class 50 Cowley recalls.
Otherwise there look to have been 2 "local" diagrams (presumably 4×Mk1) - and including the 1725 which Cowley mentioned.

Incidentally, Dawlish Warren had hardly any trains on Saturdays in 1982, but rather more in 19870s !

 

[Cowley]

That’s excellent thanks for that 30907.
Thinking about it now I would often take the 17:25 Exeter - Paignton down to Exeter st Thomas after school back then as it was a great way of getting the Eastleigh based 33/0s in the book .
It always went from platform 6 and was always 4/5 blue and grey mk1s as you say (nice and dimly lit with dark wood panelling everywhere).
At St Thomas I’d go under the bridge, up the stairs to the opposite platform and if it was winter wait for the headlights of the 50 to appear in the distance.

Pretty sure it was formed of a Waterloo mk2 set like you say.
This was around the time that Network Southeast livery was starting to take hold so the first few times I did this the coaches were blue and grey or a mixture of NSE and blue grey.

Another thing I remember from back then although it was possibly the year before (1986), there were a couple of trains on a summer Saturday that travelled straight through Exeter non stop but then possibly stopped at Dawlish and Teignmouth.
Are they in your timetable?

 

[30907]

Another thing I remember from back then although it was possibly the year before (1986), there were a couple of trains on a summer Saturday that travelled straight through Exeter non stop but then possibly stopped at Dawlish and Teignmouth.
Are they in your timetable?

In 1987 there were a couple of long nonstop Cross Country runs omitting Exeter, but nothing serving D and T.
In 1982 though the 0840 Paignton-Newcastle had no booked stop between Dawlish and Chesterfield.
IIRC the summer Saturday timetable changed a bit from year to year, so your memory may be correct. I don't have a 1986 GBTT and can't lay my hands on 84 or 85

 

[co-tr-paul]

The 1725 in 1983/4 was a Bristol guards turn with assistance from a young 20ish Exeter man who had a flaire for the young females on the train. 33 with compartment mk1s and winter sunsets. One ofy favourite turns, I have some stock records somewhere...... .

 

[MatthewRead]

Weren't the first DMU's in Devon Class 103's introduced in 1958 the Class 118's didn't enter service until 1960 and I thought they were used on lines in South Wales.

 

[Cowley]

Weren't the first DMU's in Devon Class 103's introduced in 1958 the Class 118's didn't enter service until 1960 and I thought they were used on lines in South Wales.

Of the original 20 units that were produced for the Midland region I think a few ended up being transferred to Laira.
It’s a bit before my time but I think they were even used on the Kingswear branch before preservation.
I wonder if the one that ended up at the West Somerset (which is now on the Helston Steam Railway) was one of the former Laira based ones?