Storm Babet

[whole diary]

[grahame]

What a performance

At times like this - and they will become more frequent in future year - a diversion via Chudleigh or via Tavistock would come in handy.

They, mind, come with their own problems - from WikiPedia

Chudleigh Flood Platform railway station was a railway station near Chudleigh, a small town in South Devon, England located between Newton Abbot and Exeter. Opened in 1920, it saw only occasional use each year as it was constructed as an alternative station for use when Chudleigh was flooded by the River Teign, this being a recurring seasonal problem

And from the Museum of Dartmoor Life

Christmas Day 1962 saw temperatures plummet and the first snowfall, but it was on the evening of 29th December that the blizzard started. Okehampton station’s  Running Foreman, Arthur Westlake remembers:

‘Well I went down and lit up all these engines (to keep them in light steam to prevent frost damage) and I went in on a Sunday and I ‘ad to stay there ‘till the Thursday, I just couldn’t get ‘ome. We was buried into the depot with about six foot of snow. Anyway we managed to get the snow ploughs workin’ and tried to clear the track between Okehampton and Meldon, which we tried and tried for days and really we was about ten days before we could even get through.’

[plymothian]

Block put on any service travelling south of Bristol or Westbury as no room kept to accept any more trains.

3rd rescue to be attempted.

[Teignrail]

The A38 dual carriageway does not flood at Chudleigh so it would be quite possible for a resilient Teign Valley line to be rebuilt alongside the road. Flooding near Teignbridge occurs because the defences fell into ruin years ago.
Route diversity was once one of the great strengths of the British railway system. At the moment, river levels are low and there is no snow, so two other former routes would have remained open.
https://www.teignrail.co.uk/whats-new.php#itcant

[bobm]

Any bets on a 3Z99?

Oh yes there is

[JayMac]

Best (or should it be worst?) update on internal systems today:

Update 11 at 13:37 - Alternative rescue train to rescue the rescue train is being sourced.

[plymothian]

Rescue train 1 has been rescued.  Original failure still waiting for rescue train 3.

First down train from Exeter just gone through.

[JayMac]

The railtour running from Kingswear to Woking passed through Dawlish 7 mins early. Only train that's stuck to it's schedule today! Sending it through has meant further delays for a couple of down services held at Dawlish Warren waiting to cross over to run on the up.

With several IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) sets failing after being doused with seawater one has to wonder at the wisdom of continuing to send them through Dawlish. I believe this Albert Einstein quote is apposite:

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

[PhilWakely]

With several IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) sets failing after being doused with seawater one has to wonder at the wisdom of continuing to send them through Dawlish. I believe this Albert Einstein quote is apposite:

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

Where is the good old HST^▸ (High Speed Train) when you need it most? Oh, wait.....

[Mark A]

The railtour running from Kingswear to Woking passed through Dawlish 7 mins early.

Presumably, coupling issues, otherwise there might have been circumstances where during the time it was laid over at Kingswear it would have been a good idea to borrow its diesel to help with hauling failed things to where they needed to be.

Mark

[Mark A]

Christmas Day 1962 saw temperatures plummet and the first snowfall, but it was on the evening of 29th December that the blizzard started.

Probably not for the '63 episode, but allegedly, given the geography, adverse conditions for the two lines often took turns - weather events would close one or the other, but less often both. Leading to the (apocryphal?) last use of the route via Okehampton after it had actually closed but still intact, when weather had closed the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) route and someone made the enterprising decision to route a freight train from Plymouth via Okehampton.

Mark

(Edit to add a question mark to 'Apocryphal')

[Andy]

Christmas Day 1962 saw temperatures plummet and the first snowfall, but it was on the evening of 29th December that the blizzard started.

Probably not for the '63 episode, but allegedly, given the geography, adverse conditions for the two lines often took turns - weather events would close one or the other, but less often both. Leading to the (apocryphal) last use of the route via Okehampton after it had actually closed but still intact, when weather had closed the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) route and someone made the enterprising decision to route a freight train from Plymouth via Okehampton.

Mark

I think that this is one of the strongest arguments in favour of a reopened northern route. True, the northern line won't help Torbay if the seawall is closed but not only do the two lines serve different parts of Devon when both are operational (albeit both linking Plymouth & Exeter) but extreme weather conditions are less likely to affect both at the same time. 

[Mark A]

Update: the lovely Cornwall Railway Society web site to the rescue: the one time use post closure did happen:

http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/latest-input--news--old-pictures-etc/tony-hill-looks-back-train-on-a-closed-line-tony-hill

Mark

[plymothian]

Original failed train (1C55) is finally on the move.

Failed train from last night (given headcode 5H17 - work it out!) is still at Newton Abbot.

[Timmer]

Looking at the cancellations and services altered because of this ‘severe weather’*, it’s embarrassing and quite frankly pathetic for a modern railway with modern rolling stock to be so badly affected.

When I dropped in on the Dawlish webcam earlier, it was just in time to set a 150 followed by an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) negotiate this stretch of line with no issues whatsoever.

Thoughts with all those who had the misfortune travelling to/from the southwest today.

*Someone needs to tell the Met Office as there’s no severe weather warnings anywhere near the southwest today.

[JayMac]

It was only the railway's definition of severe.