Talk:South Devon Railway engine houses

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[edit] Odd statement about smaller pipes and ropes at stations

I'm mystified by this statement:

At stations a smaller pipe was laid alongside the track and a piston in this was connected to the train by a rope to start it moving.

Why was a second pipe and piston needed to start the train?. And if the piston was attached to the train by a rope, what happened when the train left the station and the smaller pipe behind?. I have this vision of the train sailing off down the line towing a piston along the sleepers after it; but surely that cannot be right. Can somebody expand this text to address these points?. -- Chris j wood 16:56, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

It is not possible to lay the atmospheric pipe between the rails through points, so at stations a "starting tube" was laid outside the rails and a piston fitted into it. The train was connected to a piston by a rope - not an unocmmon thing in thouse days, with horses and steam locomotives often shunting awkward sidings with ropes - and the rope was dropped off when the train had passed over the points and reached the main atmospheric tube. Geof Sheppard 07:12, 18 June 2007 (UTC)