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ARGH EVL abbreviations! Tangy! What are you trying to do to us?!

I have done it once but it was a long time ago when I was much less bothererd about all things railway!!

It's really quite tedious to be honest

The abbreviations are easy lol

tangy wrote:Haven't done the Yeovil curve yet then Sam? I have already traversed it a couple of years back when FGW HSTs to EXD/PLY were on diversion via AXM. Of which some of these HSTs actaully stopped at the intermediate stations in lieu of the ususl class 159s which were withdrawn to give paths up.

First Great Western
High Speed Train
Exeter St. David's
Plymouth
Axminster

Axminster has recently had its track doubled as part of a new passing loop. There is another one pencilled in for between Whimple and Feniton I think.

More worringly (when it comes to abbreviations) is the station code that British Rail gave Barnstaple...

RichieG wrote:More worringly (when it comes to abbreviations) is the station code that British Rail gave Barnstaple...

Ah see what you mean

RichieG wrote:More worringly (when it comes to abbreviations) is the station code that British Rail gave Barnstaple...

Is it true that they can't run Pendelinos through that station because they all lean to the right?

I can spot several flaws in any plan to run a Pendolino through Barnstaple station ...

Yeah, it's closed down now isn't it?

Do you want the technical explanation?

The main reason would be that Pendolinos are powered by overhead wires...

But what I think TG was getting at was the use of the phrase 'through Barnstaple station' where Barnstaple is now a terminating station so any trains running through there would end up in a car park, through a dead industrial estate (the main business that operated in there closed down last year) and into the River Taw...

(this seems as good a time as any to just remind people that when First Great Western took over the Wessex Trains franchise they did promise something along the lines of HSTs going to Barnstaple... and we've ended up with Pacers instead... - and yes, HSTs have the guage clearance to go to Barnstaple and it has happened too but I think there are a couple bridges recently who have had weight restrictions put on them...)

Starkey7 wrote:Yeah, it's closed down now isn't it?

Not at all my dear Starkey.

It's mostly single line from Cowley Bridge Junction at Exeter, with passing loops at Crediton and Eggesford. The line is also used by the freight trains that run from Meldon Quarry to Acton Yard. The quarry line diverges at Crediton. Barnstaple station itself was once a busy station served by one of the portions of the Atlantic Coast Express in its heyday.

tubeguru wrote:

Starkey7 wrote:Yeah, it's closed down now isn't it?

Not at all my dear Starkey.

It's mostly single line from Cowley Bridge Junction at Exeter, with passing loops at Crediton and Eggesford. The line is also used by the freight trains that run from Meldon Quarry to Acton Yard. The quarry line diverges at Crediton. Barnstaple station itself was once a busy station served by one of the portions of the Atlantic Coast Express in its heyday.

I could also add that the current Barnstaple station used to be called Barnstaple Junction, and was one of four stations that Barnstaple has had - Barnstaple Jcn, Barnstaple Quay, Barnstaple Town and Barnstaple (Victoria Road), the first ones being LSWR stations and the last one being GWRs station. Of course, the maximum number of stations that has been open at any one time in Barnstaple has been three - when Barnstaple Town opened with the Lynton narrow guage railway, Barnstaple Quay closed. Victoria Road was the first to close, with the GWR trains heading straight to Jcn instead of into VR and reversing round to Jcn and onto Ilfracombe, and VR becoming a goods depot. Then Town closed when the Ilfracombe branch closed (the L&BR closing much earlier).

The reason Eggesford has the passing loop by the way is, as well as being roughly half way between Barnstaple and Crediton, one of those interesting quirks of history. The reason Eggesford station exists given that there is no such 'place' as Eggesford as such (except that that has sprung up around the station, similar to Portsmouth Arms a little bit further up the line!) is that the landowner would only give permission for the line to go through his estate if a station was built for him, and that all trains should stop there. Therefore it was given a passing loop initially (whereas the rest of the line was, as is now, single track) with the other stations getting theirs later. While I think the legal proviso that all trains have to stop there is no longer in existence, it is still the passing place on the line, and therefore all trains do still stop there. (They don't physically need to as the points are set so that they are 'automatic' so that the trains always go on to the right platform, and I think it's a spring sort of mechanism that trains going the 'other way' set the points to them when they cross and they spring back when they're done. (I know the basics of how it works, just not necessarily the technical info or terms!) Of corse, they do have to stop there as they need to get the token for the single line sections between there and Barnstaple / Crediton, and also to operate the level crossing barriers on the Exeter side of the station.)

(As it happens, I've got some pics of Eggesford station here http://picasaweb.google.com/richie.g/Ra ... directlink...)

(I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming...)

RichieG wrote:(They don't physically need to as the points are set so that they are 'automatic' so that the trains always go on to the right platform, and I think it's a spring sort of mechanism that trains going the 'other way' set the points to them when they cross and they spring back when they're done. (I know the basics of how it works, just not necessarily the technical info or terms!)

Spring points is the correct term. There are a set at Leckwith Loop Junction west of Cardiff which I have run through with them set "against" me.