50 years of Dartmouth Steam Railway on BBC

[whole diary]

[infoman]

spotlight local news at 18:30pm friday night,availble to view for 24 hours only

[grahame]

spotlight local news at 18:30pm friday night,availble to view for 24 hours only

And in a more permanent form on the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Website at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-65633040

Mr Jones said: "This was a generation who were very much a post-war generation, who just said 'Well, OK British Rail, if you don't want to run that railway, we'll do it", and that's a really dopey idea to be honest, because it's hugely complicated, it's hugely difficult, and if you sat and thought about it properly, you wouldn't do it.

"They did do it and thank goodness they did do it, and they did a really good job of it, and we kind of sometimes take for granted that fact that we have this lovely steam train running up and down the coast every day all summer."

[REVUpminster]

They don't have that many volunteers, but a lot of paid employees, albeit part time. Maybe the way to run a heritage line.

I have a friend who works in a kiosk at Dartmouth and it suits him fine as he was also doing shifts at the local SPAR shop.

[Red Squirrel]

Maybe the way to run a heritage line.

It’s a lovely line, but with the closure of Churston station and the inflexibility of ticketing it has become a pure tourist ride.

I really hope other heritage railways don’t have to follow their example.

[Mark A]

Really wishing it was simply a part of the national network, with a sort of 'Oxford Parkway' station and bus links serving Brixham and some sort of 'Only in Dartmouth would this happen' bus link taking people to the ferry.

Mark

[ChrisB]

Can we update the subject line to refer to Dartmouth Railway please?....

[Red Squirrel]

Can we update the subject line to refer to Dartmouth Railway please?....

Yes.

[Ralph Ayres]

Maybe the way to run a heritage line.

It’s a lovely line, but with the closure of Churston station and the inflexibility of ticketing it has become a pure tourist ride.

I really hope other heritage railways don’t have to follow their example.

Agree entirely. Being fussy, it's not in my view even a particularly good heritage railway, mostly using former 1960s DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) trailer cars painted in a pseudo-heritage style. I see Greenway Halt is also no longer served; I've used that previously to visit Agatha Christie's house which made for a great day out.

On the other hand they're making a go of it so perhaps I should just accept that their approach works for some people.

[Witham Bobby]

spotlight local news at 18:30pm friday night,availble to view for 24 hours only

And in a more permanent form on the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Website at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-65633040

Mr Jones said: "This was a generation who were very much a post-war generation, who just said 'Well, OK British Rail, if you don't want to run that railway, we'll do it", and that's a really dopey idea to be honest, because it's hugely complicated, it's hugely difficult, and if you sat and thought about it properly, you wouldn't do it.

"They did do it and thank goodness they did do it, and they did a really good job of it, and we kind of sometimes take for granted that fact that we have this lovely steam train running up and down the coast every day all summer."

I'm not the "Mr Jones" quoted, but, having had experience in this area, I can confirm how barmy the idea really is.  Didn't seem to quite so complicated with compliance issues back in the 1970s, though.

I was a Dart Valley Ry volunteer, and had a few free rides with 4555 and some auto trailers as timing runs before the tourist railway operation started in 1973.  And I was selling tickets at Goodrington Sands Halt on the first day of operation.  It was actually busy.  The ticket office had obviously not been unlocked and used for several years, and the racks were full of tickets to several destinations on the national network

[grahame]

It’s a lovely line, but with the closure of Churston station and the inflexibility of ticketing it has become a pure tourist ride.

Agree entirely. Being fussy, it's not in my view even a particularly good heritage railway, mostly using former 1960s DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) trailer cars painted in a pseudo-heritage style. I see Greenway Halt is also no longer served; I've used that previously to visit Agatha Christie's house which made for a great day out.

On the other hand they're making a go of it so perhaps I should just accept that their approach works for some people.

Goodrington Sands, Churston and Greenway Halt are all closed throughout the 2023 timetable, at https://www.dartmouthrailriver.co.uk/docs/train-timetable.pdf which states "there are no intermediate stops".  Sure, that approach probably works for enough people for the operation to be a good business, and if that's the intent of the owners I suppose that is their call. I continue to question with a handful of "heritage" lines whether it would be practical for the line to serve as both a tourist and a public transport provider, and this is one of that handful.

[REVUpminster]

The 120 bus provides the service Paignton to Kingwear in 22 minutes with a morning and return service to South Devon College.

https://bustimes.org/services/120-paignton-bus-station-kingswear-banjo

The main disadvantage is the uphill walk from the ferry to the banjo. Top of a double decker and the route is quite hairy.