PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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4 - TRAVEL BY TRAIN Two railways operated trains through Keyham. The old Great Western Railway had its main line from London Paddington to Penzance to the west of Keyham, and their station was actually called Keyham. Before the Second World War the Great Western also had a halt at the western end of Station Road which went by the name of Ford Platform. It was not opened until 1904, after Station Road had been built, and after being damaged by enemy action it was closed in November 1941.
A local freight train leaving
Keyham Station for Plymouth, 1957 The eastern boundary of Keyham was the old Southern Railway that ran from London Waterloo to Plymouth Friary Station. Its station was called Ford and was located at the eastern end of Station Road, just before the viaduct over St Levan Road. The viaduct was demolished in 1987 and the route of the line has now been filled in as housing and a footpath. Because Ford Station was the easier to get to, I tended to do most of my evening trainspotting there rather than at Keyham, which was only visited at weekends. Sadly my records of which locomotives I saw has long been thrown out (one of my major regrets now) and most of the information that follows is gleaned from timetables that only became available to me long after the event. Timetables changed little on the old Southern route and although this weekday schedule is taken from circa 1954/55, it stands as a fair guide for many years on either side of that.
Ford Station looking towards
Devonport (King's Road) At night the signalling block section was from Devonport King's Road to Tavistock North. Bere Alston opened at 5am, St Budeaux Victoria Road at 6am and Bere Ferrers at 7am. Ford itself used to have a signal box but it closed in March 1947. The first Up train of the early morning, except Mondays, was the 11.50pm from the Western Region's Laira Sidings to their yard at Exeter Riverside. This ran via the Southern route so that Western Region crews could get familiar with the route. It was due off Devonport King's Road (hereafter called simply Devonport for ease of reading) at 12.16am. Sometime shortly after 2.05am the Up newspaper train thundered through, taking the Western Morning News as far as Exeter Central. This was followed at about 2.40am by the 1.55am Friary to Exmouth Junction Sidings and at around 3.30am by the first Down freight, the 6pm from Templecombe, which had slowly plodded its way west and had stopped at Tavistock for its wagons to be examined. This last-named train did not run on Monday mornings. Then shortly after 4.45am came the 4.15am Friary to Bere Alston freight, which dutifully arrived there ten minutes after the signal box had been opened. I believe this formed the 6.20am freight to Gunnislake. At around five past six the express freight ran through on its non-stop run from Okehampton to Devonport. This had left Nine Elms in London at 10.15pm the previous night. St Budeaux Victoria Road Signal Box had opened by the time the 6.05am from Friary to Salisbury called at 6.22½am, the half minute being very important in railway time, although it appeared in the public timetable as simply 6.22am. This was quickly followed by the first Down stopper of the day, at 6.34am, the 6am from Tavistock. Dockyardees from Calstock on the branch from Callington used to leave there at 6.01am to catch this train at Bere Alston. The first important Down train of the day called next, the 01.15am from Waterloo, which got to Ford at 7.26am and conveyed the London newspapers. After the 7.08am to Exeter Central, due at 7.30am, had gone there were two trains that virtually passed each other at Ford at 7.52am, the 7.34am Friary to Tavistock and the 7.20am from Tavistock in the other direction. The schoolboys bound for Devonport High School for Boys travelled left at 8.25am on the the 7am from Okehampton, which was followed ten minutes later by the Up 8.15am to Waterloo. This had just called at Devonport before its non-stop run to Tavistock. Freight trains occupied the next hour, firstly the Up 8.20am one to Exmouth Junction Sidings and then the Down 5.35am from Exmouth Junction that had left Basingstoke the night before. These were at just after either 9.35 or 9.50am by the local Dockyard freight. This short train ran over the Southern route from Devonport to St Budeaux and then travelled back over the Western line to Keyham Station before reversing into the Royal Dockyard via the Dockyard Railway. At 9.53am another local stopping train called, the 7.35am from Exeter Central, and this was followed in the Up direction by the 9.50am Friary to London Waterloo, which stopped at both Devonport King's Road and St Budeaux but not Ford. The 8.41 am from Exeter Central then called at 10.58am and was followed in the Up direction by one of the longest trains over this line, the 11am from Plymouth to Brighton and Portsmouth & Southsea. Shortly after either 11.15 or 11.25am the Dockyard freight returned from St Budeaux to Devonport. This was followed by the only named train on this route, the Up "Atlantic Coast Express", which left at 11.56am. It was a bit of a misnomer for it stopped everywhere until Exeter and picked up many other portions on the way, before it ran at anything like an express speed to London. Soon after Midday came the 11.05 am Up freight to Yeoford and this was followed some 30 minutes later by the 9am stopping freight from Okehampton, which had called at Ernesettle Sidings and St Budeaux before proceeding on to King's Road, where it was due at 12.39pm. The next movement, at around 1.10pm, was the light engine that had just worked the 12.03pm Gunnislake to Bere Alston freight, on its way to Friary shed. At 1.27pm the 10.08pm to Tavistock arrived for its one minute stop to collect passengers. About ten minutes after that one had left came an unusual Down train, the 11am freight from Exeter Riverside Yard to Laira Yard, both on the British Railways (Western Region), hauled by a Western locomotive. This was to assist the crews in lineside recognition in the event of emergency running over the "foreign" line. Following the Down train from Exeter Central at 2.10pm came the Up 2.15pm to London Waterloo after which the 2.23pm to Exeter Central put in an appearance shortly after 2.40pm. Then at about 2.55 came the ambling freight that had left Yeoford at 9.30 that morning and called at Bridestowe, Lydford and Bere Ferrers amongst others before passing Ford on its way to the next stop at King's Road. Once the freight was out of the way there was room for the 9am from Waterloo, which stopped either side of Ford at St Budeaux and Devonport. Then, around 4.10pm, came the the Up Waterloo, the 3.15pm off Plymouth Friary. These were followed by the most important Down train of the day, the Down "Atlantic Coast Express",otherwise known as the 11am from Waterloo, on its non-stop run from Tavistock to Devonport. Brentor was the unusual destination of the next train at 4.24pm, which was followed at just before 5pm by the 4.25pm from Tavistock.
A West Country class loco hauls a
train through The Station was probably at its busiest between 5 and 6'o clock. Firstly, at 5.01pm, the 4.40pm to Eastleigh called, followed by the more mundane 5pm to Gunnislake at 5.20pm. This took the returning Dockyardees. This was followed 15 minutes later by the 5.16pm to Tavistock. Then at about 5.50pm came the Down Brighton which passed the Up 5.21pm freight to Feltham, probably at Devonport. The returning train from Brentor, which left there at 5.30pm, arrived at 6.08pm and was followed at 6.35pm by the 6.15pm to Tavistock. After stopping at St Budeaux the 1pm from Waterloo ran through at around 6.45pm to be followed at 7.26pm by the 6.55pm stopper from Tavistock. In between these trains, on Fridays only, was a light engine movement to St Budeaux. At 7.30pm the 7.10pm to Exeter Central called in the Up direction, to be followed on Fridays only by that light engine with its stock of empty carriages from St Budeaux, where they had been stabled since the previous Saturday night, to Friary. On the following day this 6-carriage set formed the 9.50am to Portsmouth and Southsea. Next in the Down direction came the 3pm from Waterloo, running non-stop from Tavistock to Devonport, passing Ford at around 8.30pm. Soon after 8.50pm came the 8.25pm freight to Okehampton in the Up direction and the 8.25pm stopping train from Tavistock in the Down. There was then a lull until 9.34pm when the 9.15pm to Tavistock called. This was the last Up train of the day to call at Ford Station and preceded the appearance in the Down direction (at just before 9.55pm) of the 7.15pm freight from Exeter Riverside in the charge of a Western Region engine and crew. The last Down train to stop at Ford on a weekday arrived at 10.16pm, although it ran later on Fridays, when it arrived at 10.27pm. This was the 8.07pm (8.19pm on Fridays) from Exeter Central. There was a later train on Saturdays, which arrived at 10.48pm. However, the non-stop activity continued with the 10.10pm semi-fitted freight to Salisbury. On the Down line there were two light engine movements, the first from Tavistock at about 10.50pm, except on Fridays when they found some other use for it, and the second at around 11.15pm when the engine that had worked the 9.15pm from Callington to Bere Alston ran through on its way to the shed at Friary. The last movement of the day was the passage at around 11.50pm of the 6pm from Waterloo, which had stopped at St Budeaux and was about to call at King's Road.
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