PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
|
|
The present main railway line into Plymouth from Newton Abbot was constructed by the South Devon Railway Company. Birth of the South Devon Railway It was on May 1st 1844 that the Bristol and Exeter Railway reached its southern terminus. Following the decision of a shareholder's meeting on November 21st 1843 to abandon James Meadows Rendel's proposal for a route from Exeter to Plymouth right across the centre of Dartmoor, the name was changed to the South Devon Railway. By an Act of Parliament of July 4th 1844 it was authorised to carry the line westwards to a terminus at the Eldad district of Plymouth. It was the brainchild of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the engineer of both the Great Western and the Bristol and Exeter railways and was originally called the Plymouth, Devonport and Exeter Railway. The authorised capital of £1,100,000 in £50 shares was largely funded by those two companies along with the Bristol & Gloucester Railway. Development towards Plymouth The South Devon reached Teignmouth in May 1846 and Newton Abbot on December 30th of that year. But Brunel had decided that the line was going to be powered by atmospheric pressure rather than steam locomotives and in 1847 converted the entire line to run by that means. Passenger trains ran to Teignmouth from September 13th 1848 and to Newton Abbot from January 10th 1848. In the meantime, Totnes had been reached on July 20th 1847 and pipes for the atmospheric line were being laid. However, they were destined never to be used, for on September 9th 1847 Brunel abandoned the experiment and locomotives were employed throughout the South Devon system. Friday May 5th 1848 saw the opening of the line from Totnes to a temporary station at Laira Green, on the eastern outskirts of Plymouth. Goods traffic commenced on September 13th 1848. As previously mentioned, it was planned to continue the line to Eldad with a branch to Devonport's Torpoint Ferry, where the ferry would have provided the link across the Hamoaze to join the projected Cornwall Railway. But two changes were made. Firstly, the Board of Trade objected to a crossing on the level at Union Street to take the line to Millbay Docks and so a bridge was substituted. This resulted in the terminus being moved further southwards to Millbay as well. Secondly, the Cornwall Railway dropped the idea of a ferry crossing and so a new terminus more inland was proposed for Devonport. On Tuesday March 27th 1849 Captain Symons, the Inspector-General of Railways at the Board of Trade, arrived in Plymouth and on the following day, he and Mr Glennie, the resident engineer of the South Devon Railway, travelled over that line from Millbay Station to Laira. The locomotive used was "Hecla", which was driven by Mr Reddington, the Superintendent of Locomotives. The line, earthworks and the bridges were all inspected very thoroughly with perfect satisfaction. The South Devon reaches Plymouth The new line from Laira Green to Millbay Station opened on Monday April 2nd 1849 and Plymothians crowded into the wooden station to witness the arrival and departure of the first trains. The military bands of the Royal Marines and the 28th Regiment of Foot were engaged for the occasion, together with an amateur band which travelled as far as Plympton on the first train to depart from Millbay and then returned on the Bath Mail train along with the Directors of the Company. This was due to arrive at 1.20pm London time. One of the bands was positioned in Mr Rendle's Nursery off Union Street, where spectators could watch the goings on. Goods traffic started on May 1st 1849. Unfortunately within a couple of weeks an outbreak of cholera struck the Town and killed nearly 2,000 of the inhabitants, the coincidence of timing not being lost on the townsfolk. For the continuation of the present main line see the Cornwall Railway. The South Devon Railway hired its first locomotives from the Great Western and this arrangement is thought to have continued until about 1855, by when other arrangements were in place. The Railway had its own workshops at Newton Abbot, where locomotives were serviced and maintained. A locomotive shed was opened near Millbay Station in June 1849. For details of the passenger train service at Plymouth in August 1852 CLICK HERE, in September 1852 CLICK HERE and in February 1864 CLICK HERE. On July 1st 1865 the South Devon Railway took over the South Devon & Tavistock Railway, which it had operated under lease since its opening on June 21st 1859. The South Devon merges with the Great Western Railway At a meeting of the South Devon Railway's shareholders on December 17th 1875, they overwhelmingly voted for merger with the Great Western Railway, who thus took over possession of the line to Plymouth on February 1st 1876. It was necessary to get this transfer approved by Parliament and when this was done (by the Great Western Railway and South Devon Railway Companies Amalgamation Act of July 22nd 1878) the South Devon Railway Company was dissolved on August 1st 1878. There is still in existence a South Devon Railway locomotive, "Tiny", acquired in 1868 from Messrs Sara and Company to work Plymouth's Sutton Harbour branch. She became number 2180 in the Great Western fleet and was in 1927 preserved on Newton Abbot station. She is now in the museum at the modern South Devon Railway headquarters at Buckfastleigh Station. Gradient Profile The summit of the South Devon Railway between Totnes and Plymouth was at Wrangaton. Apart from a short stretch at approaching Bittaford, the line fell continuously until just before Hemerdon Sidings, where a short incline helped to slow Down trains before the sharp decent of Hemerdon Bank. Although the decent started gradually enough, at 1 in 630, this quickly increased to 1 in 75 and then the main incline at 1 in 42. There was a slight easing to 1 in 47 before it steepened, towards the bottom, to 1 in 41. Plympton Station was more or less on the level. The line continued to drop to Tavistock Junction and remained more or less level then until Laira Junction. There was then a climb at 1 in 77, 1 in 83 and finally 1 in 72 before the approach to Mutley Tunnel, which was at 1 in 347. The summit was at the western end of the Tunnel, after which the line fell at 1 in 77, 1 in 109 through Mutley Station, and 1 in 246 through what was later North Road Station. A fall at 1 in 65 and then 1 in 61, preceded a gentler decline at 1 in 341 before the line levelled off at Millbay Station.
|
