Looking for remains of the Tavistock Line | Bere Alston & the Tamar Valley
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- Опубликовано: 9 фев 2025
- I head to the ex-mining village of Bere Alston in West Devon, and explore around some of the Tamar Valley.
Link to Mark's You Tube Channel, Devon & Beyond, that I mentioned in the video:
/ @devonandbeyondm0wmb
#tamarvalley #devon #mining
Another interesting video thank you Paul 😊 Jan
Thank you Jan!
Glad you found it interesting.
Take care,
Paul
It is amazing what you find. Thanks for taking us on the journey of discovery.
Thank you Faith!
Yes, lots more to discover in the Tamar Valley - it is an incredible place - bit like the land that time forgot - I love that places like this exist. Myself and my daughter loved exploring there.
Take care,
Paul
Lovely video Paul!
Thank you Michael!
Glad you enjoyed it.
Cheers,
Paul
It was lovely seeing the area and the remains of the railway. Love that one tunnel with all the vines. Good point on sticking to the paths and I enjoyed seeing the Leaning Tower!
Hi Donna!
Yes, that leaning tower - wonder how it keeps staying there?! Amazing!
Lovely atmosphere in the valley - so quiet and peaceful. Lots of wildlife and will be good in springtime with the wild flowers too.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Take care,
Paul
The Bridge was taken out in the late seventies by the Bere Alston railway gang to allow higher vehicles through, I remember walking over the bridge when we walked all the way to Tavistock. You are unable to walk the line now due to a couple of houses that have claimed parts of the line. Also Shillamill viaduct and tunnel are now locked.
Also the original folk from Morewellham Quay would say it’s pronounced More Well Ham, but we used to pronounce it Morewellem. I used to live in the railway cottages.
It was great to meet you.
I
Thank you Mark, and, likewise!
Yes, I was aware that it is no longer a 'walkable' one - which is why it isn't a contender as an entry in my 'lost railway walks' series - you have to be able to walk on the trackbed for those.
I didn't know about the original pronunciation as being Morewellem Quay - interesting, thanks!
Take care,
Paul
Excellent video Paul and Mark is my friend as well, hope you might do the walk between the lines to Okehampton. Lots of history and morwell Quay is lovely place to visit.
Hello Cuffy, hope you are all ok. We need to get out and explore like we used to.
Brilliant!
Thank you Derrick!
Good to hear from you again.
Yes, I have lots of things planned for mid Devon, and the lines around Okehampton is one of those - never enough time or decent weather. I do hope to be back in Devon again soon.
Take care,
Paul
Very interesting again Paul. Should never have been closed and would have been so useful when the only route gets quite frequent closures apart from reaching all those lovely places along the line.
Thank you Marilyn - and always great to hear from you.
Indeed so - would make a brilliant diversion line, and help increase capacity on the railways in this lovely part of the Westcountry.
Take care,
Paul
In the early 1990's there was talk of Bere Alston to Tavistock reopening so I went out to visit the old railway line and take some photos (35mm of course). 35 years later and we're still waiting for this line to reopen! Just like Portishead, its so frustrating because this reopened line would benefit the whole region. Interesting bits of information that you discovered on your visit. Looking forward already to the next video.🙂
Thank you Jonathan.
Yes, totally agree with you. Reopening this one has been a long drawn out affair similar to Portishead.
Take care,
Paul
Thank you for a very interesting and enjoyable video. The proposed restoration of the line to Tavistock, besides its strategic importance, looks an absolutely stunning scenic route. So let's hope that the current review has a positive outcome. Looking forward to your return visit to the mine etc.
TavyRAIL supporting the sterling work of Andrea Davies and Jamie Hulland at Devon County Council, is led by the indefatigable Richard Searight. I'm certain they will pull it off, once the DfT / Network Rail / Great British Railways thing is sorted and Rachel Reeves grows in confidence. Of all the serious reinstatement proposals out there, I think the ones with the best chances are those linked to large scale housing schemes, such as Ivanhoe Line (connecting Coalville and Ashby de la Zouche residents to jobs in Leicester, Nottingham and Derby) and Waterside Line (Fawley, Hants). If there were more proposed housing schemes in Tavistock, not just the current one - The Tors, where the proposed station will be - this would probably accelerate progress. So, West Devon Borough Council: more house please!
I think that is absolutely correct Jack, and thank for the additional information.
Cheers,
Paul
Thank you Malcolm,
I really love The Tamar Valley, so you can be assured that I will return there again before too long.
Take care,
Paul
@@jackmartinleith I agree, new housing will certainly improve the chances of a positive outcome - as of course will the Government's commitment to rail transport, which the Review may have placed in some doubt.
Hiya Paul. Regarding the location of the proposed Tavistock station: It will be on the Bere Alston side of Callington Road, so no bridge will be required. If you go up the inclined footpath from Callington Road onto the former trackbed, the station will be a bit further along, up on the embankment, accessed from Staple Tor Road. I've been following developments very closely and you can be assured this is how it is, and not just my opinion. I have location maps if you'd like to see them. The promoter of the reinstatement scheme is Devon County Council (DCC), specifically Councillor Andrea Davies, DCC Deputy Leader, and Jamie Hulland, Transportation Strategy & Road Safety Manager. DCC has had major successes with reinstatements (Okehampton) and station openings (Marsh Barton among them, and Okehampton Interchange in the pipeline) so AD and JH know what's what. DCC owns almost all of the trackbed between Callington Road and Bere Alston. Although the original railway was double track, the new one will be single track - something to do with the curves. Tavistock-Plymouth will be one train per hour, skipping Bere Ferrers and Dockyard. The Plymouth-Gunnislake services will continue, with a two-hourly pattern calling at all stations. The scheme is the second of a DCC publicly stated three-phase programme: (1) Exeter - Okehampton, (2) Plymouth-Tavistock and (3) Tavistock-Okehampton, which faces big challenges including Meldon Viaduct (replace?), Granite Way (shared use?), Mount Kelly School (owns some of the required land), Tavistock North station (privately owned, and a couple of Quant Park houses will have to be demolished, along with part of the West Devon Borough Council building) and the cost of a new Callington Road bridge. I think I've mentioned it before but perhaps you missed it: TavyRAIL is a highly active campaign group chaired by Richard Searight. It's worth making contact with him if you want to explore this further. You can also email me, or use the contact form on my website, and I'll happily share what I know. Very best wishes from Keynsham. Jack
RUclips has deleted my P.S, probably because it contained a URL. The algorithm should know me by now! Anyway, I added a couple of sentences about Northern Route Working Group, which also goes under the name of Tavistock Okehampton Working Group (TORS) and which submitted a proposal (unsuccessful) to DfT Restoring Your Railways back when it was still a going concern. NRWG / TORS includes Jim Steer, a founder of prominent rail engineering consultancy Steer Davies Gleave (now known simply as Steer) and founder of the nonprofit Greengauge 21, "an independent policy research group specialising in transport and its wider impacts". I won't provide links to these entities but if you contact me I can supply more information.
OK, I'm hitting Reply ... fingers crossed.
Thank you so much for that information Jack - much appreciated.
It does seem a shame that there are no plans to allow for it to be double track in the future, as it is was a Southern Region/Railway mainline at one time. But, something is better than nothing.
Yes, getting back to Tavistock is relatively straightforward from Bere Alston (a huge amount of vegetation clearance to do though!!), but, as you explain, much more complicated, and expensive to go link Tavistock back Okehampton again. I do hope it can become a reality though.
All the Best,
Paul
Thank you Jack - sorry about that pesky RUclips auto comment delete - I always set it to 'no restrictions' in the settings when I upload videos, but still RUclips decides to delete a few, over which I have no control, for whatever odd reason.
Thanks for the additional information - I will pin your comment to the top for others to read too and contact you for more information.
Take care,
Paul
@@westcountrywanderings You're very welcome, Paul. No worries re. the evaporating comment. Sometimes the algo allows comments that include links, other times it doesn't. Seems random. BTW, during the past five years I've started two websites, both mothballed. The first was Reopen, an online database of rail reopening schemes, complete with maps, links to bid documents and so on. It soon became apparent that many of these schemes, even some of those with strong campaign groups, will never come to fruition, either because the alignment is too far gone (e.g. Bude, Christ's Hospital to Shoreham, Great Central - commenters please do not mention Borders Railway), or the business case doesn't stack up, or the route is in the wrong place (Helston) or a heritage railway doesn't want timetabled trains on its infrastructure (Isle of Wight Steam Railway and possibly East Lancs / Bury to Rawtenstall), or it's a stupid idea for a bunch of reasons (S&D and various others). Norfolk Orbital (Holt-Fakenham-Dereham) is an interesting one. Mission impossible but Melton Constable Trust is professional, committed and making some bold moves. My more recent project was JoinUp, focused on Tavistock to Okehampton, the missing middle, in which I got physically involved. The project stirred Richard Searight, a lovely man who I greatly respect, from his slumbers (Peninsula Rail Group became TavyRAIL, to match OkeRAIL) and I eventually decided to leave it to him, NRWG and Devon County Council. So there you have it. Lots of info in the archives should you ever need it.
A wonderful video Paul. What a shame you ran out of time because of your return train journey. I really hope we can revisit this area again very soon so that wecan explore further.
Fascinating story about the line to Tavistock. I think because of the missing infrastructure, people's wish to have the line reopened might be a pipe dream for the future.
Great photography,commentary and historical information
Thank you Michael!
Yes, there is never enough time when filming! This was when I was staying in the little shepherd's hut back in Looe.
I do hope to return to The Tamar Valley before too long - there is so much to explore there.
Take care,
Paul
Hi Paul great video with plenty of info.and hope your having a good weekend 👌
Thank you Roy!
Yes, a really great weekend. Hope yours was too.
Glad you are back in the shire.
Take care,
Paul
Great video, really enjoyed it. This would be my local branch if reopened, so desperately needed. I really would recommend heading to Tavistock, walking along the canal out towards Bere Alston. You get an excellent view of the major viaduct along this route and a lot of the smaller bridges. The canal walk is also lovely in itself and very picturesque. Also thoroughly enjoyed your Portishead episodes, thanks again Paul and keep up the good content.
Thank you Max.
Yes, my goodness isn't it ever needed?
I have The Tavistock Canal down to do as a future video - and yes, it is a lovely walk - I have done it before, but not since I started the channel. I won't be getting into a kayak and going inside the tunnel though!!
Take care,
Paul
What a lovely walk even in the depths of Winter. Yes,please go back for a follow-up visit to reach the quayside- would love to see the scenery there. I must admit I had never heard of arsenic mines- it had never occurred to me where we had sourced it! And yes it would be good if the line could be restored but we seem to be all cutbacks at the moment. Thanks Paul- very enjoyable!
Thank you Diana!
Yes, it really is quite delightful there. Arsenic was dug out as a by product from the silver, tin, lead and copper extracted in this area. They found a use for it, but unfortunately, it was not good for the environment - or humans!
I do think a lot less hopeful about this line reopening compared to Portishead one - there is certainly a fair bit of work to be done, and as you say with the cutbacks, it won't be seen as high priority.
Glad you enjoyed the video.
Take care,
Paul
Hi Paul some of your old haunts again . Been to Morwellion quay about 10 years ago with a coach. Great to go into the mine and see the farm that appeared on tv with the Victorian farm series. caroline
Good morning Caroline.
That was an excellent series about the Victorian Farm. Yes, I have been to Morwellham Quay a few times over the years - I do hope to a video about that at some point.
The Tamar Valley is just enchanting and a real escape from everything.
Take care,
Paul
@@westcountrywanderings a good place to unwind. My place is near Lake Louise in Alberta Canada overlooking peto lake sitting on a rock and drains all your worries. caroline.
Great Video Paul, i was out filming in the Mendip Hills and have done a video on St Cuthberts Lead Mines and Smelting works Near Priddy, the Smelting tunnels are still very much intact but no Leaning Chimneys, how amazing that that is still stood there! Great watch as Always! Best wishes Darren👌👍👍👍
Thank you Darren!
It was a super walk here - I hope to catch up with your video as soon as I can - just never enough time to catch up with videos and film and edit. I need some more hours!
Take care,
Paul
@@westcountrywanderings Thanks Paul, i did make a reference to you in the video because i think there is something in it that would be of interest to you.
@@Somersetmanwalking Thanks Darren! I will try and watch it later.
Hi Paul, Projecting ahead that will be a really useful line to restore. It's not without some challenges as you were able to witness.
Lots of details to see at every step and a lovely day for a walk. Some excellent music from Esther Abrahmi too👌👌
Enjoyed the intro, you must have been going over the Tamar bridge?
I hope you get to explore more of this area soon. Great video. Have a great week!!
Thank you David - yes, I didn't realise that there was quite so much to do to reopen this line - certainly a lot more than Portishead, which is really the easy, peasey of railway reopenings from an infrastructure perspective. Clearing that vegetation alone will take some effort!! It really was like looking down on the top of a jungle.
Yes, the opening shots were going into Devon from Cornwall across the Royal Albert Railway Bridge - to be pedantic, The Tamar Bridge is the name of the parallel road bridge.
Ah, yes, you noticed I used Esther again here! Well spotted.
Hope you have a good week too - off to film a walk today!
Take care,
Paul
Arsenic mine - my goodness, I wonder what the life expectancy of those miners was?! There really were some terrible jobs in the 18th & 19th century!
Thank you Peter - yes, I wouldn't want to be close to the fumes coming off the arsenic smelter in the valley there!
So many dangerous occupations then,
Cheers,
Paul
the adit looks like its leaking iron in the water. caroline.
Yes, it certainly looks like it.
Hi Paul, my sort of explore in my favorite county. Lot of work required to restore the line, I wonder how long it will take compared to how long it took to build it in the first place. Take care. Ron
Hi Ron.
Thank you - glad you enjoyed it - yes, the Tamar Valley is really lovely.
I think it may be a while, unfortuntely, before this one opens.
Take care,
Paul
was Tarka the Otter book based in this valley or the next one. caroline.
The Tarka the Otter book was set quite a bit further to the North of here, in the valleys of The Taw and The Torridge.
I haven't covered much of North Devon yet on the channel - something I do hope to do in the future.
Take care,
Paul
see lambing started in Devon. that ewe due any minute. caroline.
Yes! So true and well spotted.
Paul