Echoes of Ribblehead? (or Iraq WMD Dossier??) First decide the 'required' answer?
A large amount of rust, one suspects.
It would say it isn't relevant to reopening Tavistock to Plymouth! Get that open first as it should be both cheaper and provide lots of benefit. See how that goes and how much the good people of Tavistock use the service before thinking of extending any further.
Currently there can only be one train north of the junction at St Budeaux. Providing a reasonable frequency to Tavistock and also a service to Gunnislake would need there to be two. The simplest arrangement would probably be to "lock in" a train for the day on the Bere Alston to Gunnislake section, including a second platform at Bere Alston, and have Gunnislake passenger change there.
Indeed - I was wondering what the preliminary work 'already undertaken' mentioned in the article was - there is no visible evidence.
On the contrary. If the the proposed route for reopening Tavistock to Plymouth takes place, with a new station constructed on a different site at Tavistock; a resultant tortuous route to Okehampton will never be built.
Think you're right there. the cost would be astronomical.
While that would be the simplest operationally it would then involve Gunnislake users crossing from one platform to the other which would a) probably cost a lot (£m) to cater for modern regs around persons with impaired mobility, and b) add time & hassle to the already tortuously slow Gunnislake <-> Plymouth service.
Not sure what point you're trying to make here. The proposed station at Tavistock is at the edge of the town, on the former route just before the formation is obstructed by a house. So it doesn't significantly obstruct a further extension to Okehampton, which would have to deal with that house as the first of (no doubt) many challenges.
The big if is whether the site of a new station would allow further track extension towards Okhampton to be made without further disruption and cost before even beginning to relay the old route eastwards. My original posting regarding Meldon Viaduct was more of a muse as to why BR, or the powers that be, were adamant that the viaduct was no longer safe for traffic. Regretfully, I don't believe that Okehampton and Tavistock will be linked by rail again.
Didn't concern about Meldon Viaduct predate BR by some years? I seem to recall the speed limit was imposed by the LSWR and that it was the subject of emergency strengthening during WW2 (Southern Railway) so ammunition trains could run to Devonport Dockyard. I think there were concerns about the adequacy of the initial design as well as subsequent deterioration.
If going to rebuild to Tavistock with all the land acquisition etc, then probably best to move Bere Alston station few hundred metres south, and build a spur direct to Gunnislake across the field. Much easier to have it split into two branches facing Plymouth than a line with reversals.
These are just two of a huge number of constraints on the way to Okehampton. If it was extended the station would probably be removed anyway in favour of a site nearer the town centre. I see little point in trying to make the initial station provide for any extension.
Unfortunately the railway serves the river valley, some estates, the declining dockyard before arriving at the city centre of empty and derelict 1970s offices and shops. At the station you can err get the bus back to Tavistock for all the student accommodation, retail parks, main hospital and modern office developments, supermarkets and 99% of present day employment which is the other side of the a38.
That would need some actual signals, whereas an arrangement where the Gunnislake train is locked into a different platform can be achieved just using tokens and ground frames (which would only need to be operated at the start and end of the day when the two trains would be coupled from and to Plymouth).
In other countries, in similar circumstances, the message would be simple; in order that the Tavistock reopening is approved, it will be necessary to close the Bere Alston to Gunnislake section of line which is hugely loss-making. The number of existing passengers on that short stretch who would be severely inconvenienced by having to go to Tavistock instead to catch a train to Plymouth would probably be small, but since Dr Beeching it's become a complete no-no to admit even a hundred yards of track should be abandoned. The Greater Good is an alien concept!
Gunnislake and Calstock are both reasonably busy stations. The roads in the area are awful hence the branch’s survival.
Practical but I can’t see passengers wearing it. You only need to start having missed connections to persuade people into their cars.
