Plym Valley Railway reopening to Plym Bridge platform

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Plymouth Herald:

All aboard as historic railway reopens after gap of 50 years

Two special guests will help celebrate the re-opening of a Plymouth branch line 50 years after it was closed by Dr Beeching's axe.

On December 30, to mark the 50th anniversary of the closure of the branch line between Plymouth, Tavistock and Launceston, the Plym Valley Railway will open its half-mile extension, allowing trains back to Plym Bridge platform.

It is the first time in the preservation era that the railway has operated over its full 1.5-mile length with a station at each end, allowing passengers to join or leave the railway from each station. The re-opening special will depart from Marsh Mills station at 12 noon, carrying railway members and invited guests, with public trains starting at 2pm.

One special guest, Aubery Hawke, was the last passenger to board a train departing from Plym Bridge platform in December 1962 before the heavy snow fall closed the railway early. He will be the first to board a train from the rebuilt Plym Bridge platform some 50 years later.

Bernard Mills, a photographer and founder member of the Plym Valley Railway, was also on the last train 50 years ago and will also be on the first train.

[grahame]

An interesting follow up story from fifty years ago - the final trains on this line and the weather at the time:

http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/story-17700155-detail/story.html?

[SandTEngineer]

...and some photographs of the reopening today here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Plym-Valley-Railway/207716779340858

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Plymouth Herald:

Historic journey marks Plymouth rail line's reopening

Rail passengers rolled back the clock when they stepped aboard a train to mark the reopening of a branch line.

Aubrey Hawke and Bernard Mills were among those on the last train to use the old branch line between Plymouth, Tavistock and Launceston 50 years ago.

​
Passengers mark the reopening of the Plym Valley Railway line

And on Sunday the pair were on the first train to run from Marsh Mills to Plym Bridge since then.

Fifty years ago Mr Hawke was the last passenger to board the line, which was severed by Dr Beeching's axe and closed earlier than planned because of winter snow.

Bernard Mills, a photographer and founder-member of the Plym Valley Railway, was also on the last train 50 years ago and on the first train.

Plym Valley Railway enthusiasts have been restoring part of the line, and on Sunday, to mark the 50th anniversary of the closure, they opened a half-mile extension, allowing trains back to Plym Bridge platform.

It is the first time in the preservation era that the railway has operated over its full 1.5-mile length with a station at each end. Passengers will now be able to join or leave the railway from each station.

The reopening special left Marsh Mills station at noon, carrying railway members and invited guests. From 2pm the public were able to take the journey.

Among the passengers on Sunday were Gary Streeter, the MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) for South West Devon, the Lord Mayor of Plymouth, Councillor Mike Wright, Pauline Kadoche, the Plympton Stannator, and Plympton St Mary councillor Patrick Nicholls.

Bernard Mills, the railway's founder-member, unveiled the new station name board to officially open the station.

Mrs Kadoche said later: "It was a marvellous moment to be part of it, and worth all the effort. It's part of our heritage and it's something that should be remembered and celebrated."

Paul Fox, a Plym Valley Railway director, said about 500 passengers made the journey on Sunday. "All the children loved it too." He said the next phase of work would see reconstruction of the Marsh Mills station and development of an interactive museum.

Last year the 44-year-old Royal Oak, a class 50 diesel-electric locomotive, was restored and brought back into use on the line. It took nearly 20 months and 2,500 hours of work to restore the locomotive, owned by Dave Cunningham.

The railway will open to visitors on certain Sundays from 11am, starting from Easter Sunday.

[Plymboi]

Is it possible for the plym valley to extend as far as yelverton? Wonder if they are planning on extension any further

[Pb_devon]

The simple answer is...no and no.

The route north of Plym Bridge is a very popular walking & cycle trail.  In any event the station sites are in private hands.

[autotank]

What would be the point in extending when they hardly use the strech they have restored! They are only running public trains on 15 days this year - the next trains aren't until the end of June. I would have thought after putting so much effort into extending the line they'd want to show it off. Surely there are enough potential visitors in Plymouth for them run a bit more frequently?

My opinion is they need to concentrate their efforts on training more operating staff and improving visitor facilities rather than laying more track.

[Pb_devon]

I do not speak for the PVR, but as an ordinary member of over 3 decades (often from afar) I should point out that we would love to offer more.  However with the very small membership, the limited resources available have to be used wisely.  The subject was covered in the latest magazine, so if anyone would like to join and help out  they would be very welcome.  details on the website http://www.plymrail.co.uk/

(Mr Mod, please allow the small ad!)

[Chris from Nailsea]

(Mr Mod, please allow the small ad!)

No problem at all with that, Pb_devon - after all, I started this particular topic! 

In fact, I was considering posting a comment here last night.  I have visited the Plym Valley Railway, a few years ago, and enjoyed walking along the old trackbed (also viewing the various old industrial sites alongside the line), beyond the existing working heritage railway line.  It did seem to me then that, in view of the fairly limited number of supporters / passengers on such a line, it would be impractical for the line to be extended.

Firstly, the line doesn't really serve anywhere these days, and there is a limit to how far tourists will travel on a line to ... well, nowhere in particular, actually.  That is in no way a criticism of the line - merely an observation that, rather for the reason it was closed, it simply would not pay its way. 

Secondly, the costs of reinstating and rebuilding the line to current standards would be prohibitive - some of the old trackbed is now in private hands, and some has been built over.

Sad, but we do have to be practical. 

[SandTEngineer]

......mmm.  Well actually CfN it does go somewhere .  Plym Bridge woods are VERY popular with the locals.  Parking there is almost impossible during the weekends so the trains could provide a very valuable service (considering there is a large P&R^▸ (Park and Ride) site at the Marsh Mills end). http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186258-d591623-Reviews-Plym_Bridge_Woods-Plymouth_Devon_England.html

[Chris from Nailsea]

I'm happy to stand corrected on that point, SandTEngineer. 

I agree that Plym Bridge Woods themselves are a very popular walking area - indeed, that was the reason for my own visit, a few years ago, with family, friends and a couple of dogs. There is some really fascinating industrial archaeology in those woods, too - it is sometimes half-buried in the undergrowth, but well worth exploring!

My point was rather that there are no particular centres of population along the old branch line these days, so apart from those leisure users of the woods, there would be a fairly limited market for any extension of the preserved line.  That is not to say, of course, that I wouldn't support them wholeheartedly if they were to decide that it is actually viable for them to extend that heritage line!

[Plymboi]

Some said they had heard that the plym valley railway and an agreement in principle to extend the line. But for the time being they are focusing on doing up marsh mills station.

[34104]

I think the PVR really missed the boat [if you'll excuse the inappropriate transport metaphor] back in the early 1980's when there was no cycle path on the trackbed to Yelverton.It was certainly the original intention of the PVR to reopen the line to Yelverton [even earlier than that,they explored the possibility of the Callington branch from Gunnislake onwards] but as i recall they concentrated too much on some wide ranging but expensive projects such as the Bayer Garratt,Wadebridge,the Tavistock footbridge etc and essentially were trying to run before they could walk.I believe that quite a lot of volunteers got impatient with the lack of progress and turned their attentions to the South Devon Railway instead-a pity,who knows where the project could have ended up if the early years had been fruitful as far as relaying track was concerned-Princetown perhaps?