South Devon Railway (1846-1876)

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South Devon Railway
Locale England
Dates of operation 1846–1876
Successor line Great Western Railway
Track gauge 7 feet 0¼ inch
Length 52.85 miles
excluding branches
Headquarters Plymouth

The South Devon Railway Company built and operated the railway from Exeter to Plymouth and Torquay in Devon, England. It was a 7 feet 0¼ inch broad gauge railway built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Contents

[edit] Chronology

  • 1844 South Devon Railway Act passed by parliament
  • 1846 opened to Newton Abbot
  • 1847 opened to Totnes, atmospheric trains start running
  • 1848 atmospheric trains withdrawn, Torquay branch opened
  • 1849 line completed to Plymouth
  • 1876 amalgamated with the Great Western Railway

[edit] History

[edit] Openings

A South Devon Railway train near Teignmouth, circa 1854
A South Devon Railway train near Teignmouth, circa 1854

The South Devon Railway was a 7 feet 0¼ inch broad gauge railway engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

The first section of the line to be opened was from Exeter to Teignmouth on 30 May 1846. The line was extended to Newton Abbot on 30 December 1846 and reached Totnes on 20 June 1847. It reached a temporary station at Laira on the outskirts of Plymouth on 5 May 1848 and finally reached the permanent terminus at Plymouth on 2 April 1849. The company built its offices outside this station.

The line was extended the short distance into the new Plymouth Great Western Docks in 1850 and in 1853 opened a branch to the older Plymouth harbour at Sutton Pool by converting a part of the Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway to broad gauge.

[edit] Atmospheric trains

The railway was designed to be worked by atmospheric power which enabled a cheaper route to be taken, making use of steeper gradients and smaller curves than was considered practical with steam locomotives at that time.

Atmospheric trains started carrying passengers on 13 September 1847 but the service was withdrawn on 9 September 1848. The failure of the system resulted in financial difficulties for the company for many years, although arrangements with local businessmen such as George Hennet allowed the provision of additional stations and rolling stock.

The remains of several engine houses can still be seen alongside the line.

[edit] Branches and extensions

A branch was opened from Newton Abbot to Torquay on 18 December 1848. This line was extended as the independent Dartmouth and Torbay Railway on 2 August 1859, finally reaching Kingswear on 16 August 1864.

In the meantime, Plymouth had become a joint station with the opening of the Cornwall Railway on 4 May 1859, and the South Devon and Tavistock Railway on 22 June 1859. This latter line was extended by the Launceston and South Devon Railway on 1 July 1865.

Other independent branches were the Moretonhampstead and South Devon Railway from Newton Abbot on 4 July 1866 and the Buckfastleigh, Totnes and South Devon Railway which opened to Ashburton on 1 May 1871 and added a branch to Totnes Quay on 10 November 1872. The South Devon Railway had also added a quayside branch, to the Exeter Canal at City Basin on 17 July 1867.

[edit] Subsequent history

The company was amalgamated with the Great Western Railway on 1 February 1876, shortly after which the London and South Western Railway arrived in Plymouth and a joint station was opened at North Road.

The gauge was converted to standard gauge on (officially) 21 May 1892. Previous to this, the line from Tavistock Junction to North Road in Plymouth had been mixed gauge to allow the London and South Western trains to travel over the broad gauge tracks. Similarly, one of the two tracks from Exeter as far as City Basin had been mixed. It is interesting to note that the conversion to standard gauge for the entire Exeter to Plymouth section was carried out after the last broad gauge train that ran to Plymouth on Friday 20 May had returned empty to Swindon depot (where it was immediately scrapped). The work was complete ready for the first standard gauge train to run on Monday 23 May.

The Great Western Railway was nationalised on 1 January 1948. It completed the doubling of the line and introduced a more intensive suburban service in Plymouth in 1904, along with several small new stations.

[edit] Route

After leaving the Bristol and Exeter Railway station at Exeter, the line crosses the River Exe and then passes through the suburbs of Exeter along a stone viaduct. Once out in the countryside it follows the river down to Dawlish Warren where it turns along the sea wall to Teignmouth and then follows the River Teign to Newton Abbot, where the company's workshops were located.

Beyond Newton the line climbs up a steep gradient to Dainton Tunnel, then drops down to cross the River Dart at Totnes. It then climbs steeply up to Rattery and then skirts the southern edge of Dartmoor before dropping down a steep gradient at Hemerdon to terminate nearly back at sea level in Plymouth.

[edit] Stations

Dawlish in the 1870s with the station and atmospheric pumping in the background
Dawlish in the 1870s with the station and atmospheric pumping in the background

[edit] Locomotives

Main article South Devon Railway locomotives

The company hired locomotives from the Great Western Railway to haul their trains until the atmospheric system was ready for operation. In the event, locomotives were needed on a more permanent basis and so a series of contracts were entered into with contractors to provide the power for the trains. From 1867 the company bought the locomotives and operated them.

The South Devon Railway also operated all the connecting branches in Devon and so their locomotives operated on these. The Cornwall Railway also contracted their motive power from the same company as the South Devon Railway. From 1867 the South Devon Railway also bought the Cornwall Railway locomotives and operated them as a single fleet with their own, and also the ones now purchased for the West Cornwall Railway.

Most of the locomotives were 4-4-0 tank engines for passenger trains and 0-6-0 tank engines for goods trains. Later some smaller locomotives were purchased for branch lines and the dock branches.

[edit] Further reading

  • The South Devon Railway, R H Gregory, The Oakwood Press 1982, ISBN 0-85361-286-2
  • Exeter - Newton Abbot: A Railway History, Peter Kay, Platform 5 Publishing 1991, ISBN 1-872524-42-7
  • The Great Western in South Devon, Keith Beck and John Copsey, Wild Swan Publications 1990, ISBN 0-906867-90-8
  • Records of the South Devon Railway and its successors can be consulted at The National Archives