The North Devon Line
Barnstaple, North Devon, England
another "content over style" heritage web page from Steve Johnson`s "Cyberheritage"
THE PHOTOGRAPHIC COLLECTION
Steam on the Western Region Mainline - 1985
Hemerdon Bank and Cucksford (along the River Exe)
click above to enlarge
all taken in Spring 1985
In 1985 the amazing happened! Steam was to return to the Western Region mainline, that's the GWR main line! After a few minor hitches we were all treated to the sight and sound AND smell of something from our memory! Steam, real steam, double headed long trains being hauled up the Devon Banks...!
..And did the people turn out? They sure did. So we all got to our pitch early and saw something that was almost unreal - unreal that it was all actually happening at all.
I only have a few photos, see above, and the few below. The colour is a bit weird, but the colour negative appears to have faded over the last 15 years - however with a little care and patience I am sure that you will be able to make a passable print out of them.
Later in the year there was a single loco working down to Cornwall, here it is heading west as it steams under the roadbridge at Devonport Station in Plymouth.
