GWS Steam Railmotor on Looe Valley Line Suns 11 and 18 November

[whole diary]

[paul7575]

Tickets are still available for the additional date - 18 November. 

http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/search.php?tm_link=tm_header_search&language=en-us&keyword=looe

That's a pretty confusing display - 'venue' and 'location' = Didcot railway centre 

Paul

[IndustryInsider]

Taunton Trains clocked the Cl33 on its way from Southall to Bodmin yesterday

I wondered what that was doing making a break for it from Southall yard yesterday! 

[grahame]

Silly question ... Why can't the railmotor be driven ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) from Bodmin Road to Liskeard under its own steam?

[TonyK]

Hardly Heath Robinson but the finest Swindon carriage and engine building combined.

Having looked again and seen the power bogie on its own, I'm now convinced by what you say. It's an ingenious piece of engineering, although I understand the limitation as well. Having to take loco and coach out of service for maintenance must have been a challenge to the managers of the rail companied that used them.

For some reason, seeing the picture of the driver at the boiler, I think of the TARDIS.

[IndustryInsider]

Silly question ... Why can't the railmotor be driven ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) from Bodmin Road to Liskeard under its own steam?

I doubt it's got TPWS^▸ (Train Protection and Warning System) and data recorders and the mainline certification that you can only get with those devices fitted.

[grahame]

Silly question ... Why can't the railmotor be driven ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) from Bodmin Road to Liskeard under its own steam?

I doubt it's got TPWS^▸ (Train Protection and Warning System) and data recorders and the mainline certification that you can only get with those devices fitted.

I'm probably getting confused between "mainline" and "National Rail Network" - I had kindof assumed they were the same as far as stock operation was concerned, and that (quite surprising!) the Railmotor could be used on the National Rail Network subject to gauging issues, and perhaps subject to being ECS if there are other trains around like is (?) an issue with the Bubbles. How does it work for "lesser lines" then?

[IndustryInsider]

I should imagine special circumstances apply when the train is 'locked in' on its own for the day as it will be with the Looe branch.  Possibly why that branch was chosen in the first place?  I'm sure there were still some red tape to cut through even then though.

[RichardB]

A very nice You Tube video of the railmotors heading south from Terras Bridge crossing here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYKUnEZqsI0&feature=youtu.be

On the working of the Railmotor, it is only allowed to work on its own on lines which are completely self contained, hence the need for the Cl33. 

[bobm]

Excuse my ignorance, but in its heyday what sort of routes would it have operated on?

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

What sort of routes would it have operated on? - The 5 mile or so route from Yatton to Clevedon or the little longer Truro to Newquay via Chasewater and Peranporth. In those days there were hundreds of these branch lines feeding traffic to main lines that Dr Beeching seemed to think that closing them would have no consequences on the main line traffic volumes.

[RichardB]

Here's an even better video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDxGfKWRm8M

[chuffed]

The Youtube video referred to above is as good as it gets. I wish it could be entered for some sort of award as the camera work and the simply stunning combination of steam railcar, azure sky, reflections and Autumn colours is quite simply absolutely stunning v!!

[Chris from Nailsea]

Agreed: it's almost as good as actually being there (which, sadly, I wasn't).

I assume the event on this Sunday, the 18^th, is still going ahead, Richard?

[RichardB]

Agreed: it's almost as good as actually being there (which, sadly, I wasn't).

I assume the event on this Sunday, the 18^th, is still going ahead, Richard?

Certainly is, Chris.  Tickets still available.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Excuse my ignorance, but in its heyday what sort of routes would it have operated on?

'Plympton via Millbay', according to a destination board seen in the second of the youtube video items RichardB mentions. 

I assume the event on this Sunday, the 18^th, is still going ahead, Richard?

Certainly is, Chris.  Tickets still available.

Thanks for confirming that, Richard! 

From the Western Morning News:

Gracious days of travel re-lived in railmotor coach on Liskeard to Looe line

Rail enthusiasts enjoyed a rare treat at the weekend as a restored Edwardian railmotor coach graced a Cornish branch line for the first time.

The wooden-bodied, steam-driven vehicle ^ the Edwardian equivalent of a modern diesel rail car ^ took passengers on a return trip from Liskeard to Looe.

The special service, run by West Coast Railways and sponsored by First Great Western, is being repeated next Sunday.

It gives people a second chance to travel aboard the Steam Railmotor 93 which was built in 1908 and ran as a self-propelled unit for nearly 30 years.

After a stint as a locomotive-hauled trailer, it was withdrawn from passenger service in 1956 and converted into an office stationed in Birmingham. It was preserved by the Great Western Society in 1970 and stored at Didcot.

The project to build a new steam power unit and rebuild the coach as a railmotor began in the 1990s. But it was only in 2007 that a grant of ^768,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund enabled the rebuilding of the coach which was completed at the Llangollen Railway in March 2011.

Five, 40-minute round trips leave Liskeard next Sunday. For more information and tickets call 08444 771000.