The Withered Arm in the Late 70s early 980s

[John Luxton]

I have just been reorganising my web site directories and have just relocated images that I took mainly in the late 70s early 80s which show the state of the "Withered Arm" - the former Southern (LSWR) Lines West Of Exeter:

Meldon



Sampford Courtenay



Mortehoe



Okehampton



North Devon & Cornwall Light Railway Watergate Halt



Torrington Station



Halwill Junction



Barnstaple Town



For the full collection click on this link:

http://www.jhluxton.com/The-35mm-Film-Archive/Railways/The-Withered-Arm

John

 

[70014IronDuke]

Very sad photos, when you think of the millions of man hours spent building, maintaining an operating the line over the century or so of operations.

Mortehoe - mentioned in 'The Slow Train', of course.

 

[John Luxton]

Looking back on these photos now I just wish I had taken more! The one good thing is that the Okehampton line has managed to hold on and perhaps if the weather obliges again the argument for reopening Meldon to Bere Alston gains in strength.

Interesting they should have had a rock fall on the coast line the other day which resulted in disruption on the same day that the footpath at Dawlish was restored.

Perhaps in a decade or two trains may cross Meldon viaduct again?

John

 

[Ash Bridge]

Looking back on these photos now I just wish I had taken more! The one good thing is that the Okehampton line has managed to hold on and perhaps if the weather obliges again the argument for reopening Meldon to Bere Alston gains in strength.

Interesting they should have had a rock fall on the coast line the other day which resulted in disruption on the same day that the footpath at Dawlish was restored.

Perhaps in a decade or two trains may cross Meldon viaduct again?

John

I'm always so grateful that photographers like yourself recorded these locations in the period just after closure and before nature takes over completely, or worst still, total demolition and redevelopment

It is very encouraging when I think back to June that I was stood in vitually the same spot on Okehampton station looking at those products of Exmouth Junction Concrete Works now proudly carrying Southern green running in boards and targets again, just hope you are right about Meldon viaduct, would like to think it's nearer a decade rather than two, many thanks for sharing
Edit: Just to add, I think that Western Region notice on the approach to Meldon Viaduct may still be extant.

 

[John Luxton]

Edit: Just to add, I think that Western Region notice on the approach to Meldon Viaduct may still be extant.

Really? Though I have visited the Darmoor Railway quite a few times I have not wandered across the viaduct or approached along the track bed from Sourton I will try and take a look when I am next down in Devon and Cornwall in October.

John

 

[455driver]

Interesting they should have had a rock fall on the coast line the other day which resulted in disruption on the same day that the footpath at Dawlish was restored.

There wasn't a rockfall, it was a false alarm and instead of following the normal procedure 'they' decided to panic and close the line instead!


Thank you for sharing the photos.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Now at the age of 70 and one who travelled those lines from the mid-1950's time period, it was good to see such images of the time period you captured.

Incidentally, I remember the station being called Mortenhoe and Woolacombe

 

[backontrack]

"No more will I go to Blandford Forum, and Mortehoe,
On the slow train from Midsomer Norton and Mumby Road.
No churns, no porter, no cat on a seat
At Chorlton-cum-Hardy or Chester-le-Street.
We won't be meeting again
On the Slow Train."​