Class 121 bubble car on Ilfracombe Line

Good Morning !

Were class 121 bubble cars used on the Ilfracombe Line has anyone seen a photograph in a book or magazine ?

Nacht-Zug-Fahr said:

Good Morning !

Were class 121 bubble cars used on the Ilfracombe Line has anyone seen a photograph in a book or magazine ?

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There are a few pictures of DMUs here. I think some of them may be 121s (and one looks like a 122).

I've done loads of research on the line (including those posts) and have never seen a picture of a 121 bubble car - not even attached to a three car unit which appeared to be standard fayre. It seems to be that 3 car units were the normal fayre and a further unit added at busier times. See this Youtube video. Its not to say a Class 121 bubble car never reached Ilfracombe for a Class 52 was once known to have got to Ilfracombe!

Interesting ! No I have never seen a photo of a 121 on the line either , though they did do Barnstaple to Taunton .
Is the class 52 documented as visiting the line ?

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rogercov said:

There are a few pictures of DMUs here. I think some of them may be 121s (and one looks like a 122).

Rails to Ilfracombe #1 – London Rail

Rails to Ilfracombe #2 – London Rail

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Thanks for the interesting links !

Nacht-Zug-Fahr said:

Interesting ! No I have never seen a photo of a 121 on the line either , though they did do Barnstaple to Taunton .
Is the class 52 documented as visiting the line ?

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Thanks for the interesting links !

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It was D1012 Western Firebrand. Very little information is available on this but I think it was sent in an emergency to retrieve a train. Surprising as the Class 52s were prohibited from the line due to the very tight curve clearances on the Taw viaduct. Even Coleford Junction to Barnstaple was basically a no no for the class.

londontransit said:

It was D1012 Western Firebrand. Very little information is available on this but I think it was sent in an emergency to retrieve a train. Surprising as the Class 52s were prohibited from the line due to the very tight curve clearances on the Taw viaduct. Even Coleford Junction to Barnstaple was basically a no no for the class.

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Interesting !

londontransit said:

It was D1012 Western Firebrand. Very little information is available on this but I think it was sent in an emergency to retrieve a train. Surprising as the Class 52s were prohibited from the line due to the very tight curve clearances on the Taw viaduct. Even Coleford Junction to Barnstaple was basically a no no for the class.

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I’ve got a couple of photos taken by people of 52s north of Coleford Junction, but they were definitely rare and I’m 99.9% certain as you say that they never made it to Ilfracombe.

Cowley said:

I’ve got a couple of photos taken by people of 52s north of Coleford Junction, but they were definitely rare and I’m 99.9% certain as you say that they never made it to Ilfracombe.

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Class 52s did indeed reach Barnstaple. One was used on a Royal Train to the town. That was D1049 Western Monarch in 1971. The class were not frequent to Barnstaple but the fact that one (D1012) did get to Ilfracombe is altogether a total mystery.

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Just to add for doubters, Coombe Rail's magazine has a picture of the 52 on the Ilfracombe line.

londontransit said:

Class 52s did indeed reach Barnstaple. One was used on a Royal Train to the town. That was D1049 Western Monarch in 1971. The class were not frequent to Barnstaple but the fact that one (D1012) did get to Ilfracombe is altogether a total mystery.

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Just to add for doubters, Coombe Rail's magazine has a picture of the 52 on the Ilfracombe line.

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Well that’s very interesting. I’ve not seen that before so thanks for sharing it.

Cowley said:

Well that’s very interesting. I’ve not seen that before so thanks

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londontransit said:

Class 52s did indeed reach Barnstaple. One was used on a Royal Train to the town. That was D1049 Western Monarch in 1971. The class were not frequent to Barnstaple but the fact that one (D1012) did get to Ilfracombe is altogether a total mystery.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Jul 2026 ==

Just to add for doubters, Coombe Rail's magazine has a picture of the 52 on the Ilfracombe line.

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Very interesting! Do we know why D1012 made it to Ilfracombe ?
I can now buy a class 52 model for my Ilfracombe layout ! ( just one run though !)

Cowley said:

Well that’s very interesting. I’ve not seen that before so thanks for sharing it.

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Recreated on Moors View?

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Nacht-Zug-Fahr said:

Very interesting! Do we know why D1012 made it to Ilfracombe ?

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Braunton station photo caption - attached - quotes D1012's appearance as: "...Western was reportedly covering for a failed loco on a paper train." The leading BSK was likely for guard's facilities; and possibly passengers' use too. I don't know what the train's usual motive power would've been in 1967-1970: D7xxx Hymek, or D63xx.

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Nacht-Zug-Fahr said:

I can now buy a class 52 model for my Ilfracombe layout ! ( just one run though !)

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Rule One modelling says you can have at least two Whizzos.

Sun Chariot said:

Recreated on Moors View?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Jul 2026 ==


Braunton station photo caption - attached - quotes D1012's appearance as: "...Western was reportedly covering for a failed loco on a paper train." The leading BSK was likely for guard's facilities; and possibly passengers' use too. I don't know what the train's usual motive power would've been in 1967-1970: D7xxx Hymek, or D63xx.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Jul 2026 ==


Rule One modelling says you can have at least two Whizzos.

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Ahh I’d hate to break rule one !

londontransit said:

Even Coleford Junction to Barnstaple was basically a no no for the class.

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According to Railway Observer March 1973, the ban on Westerns was north of Lapford, not Coleford Junction, and was imposed in January 1973. The last Westerns known to have worked the 1558 Exeter-Barnstaple were D1020 on 6 January 1973 and D1049 on 11 January 1973.

londontransit said:

Class 52s did indeed reach Barnstaple. One was used on a Royal Train to the town. That was D1049 Western Monarch in 1971.

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I think this is a train for the Duke of Edinburgh on 11-12 November 1971 for engagements in Plymouth and Truro, which overnighted at Barnstaple. This was unusual as Royal Trains to Devon and Cornwall usually overnighted on the Heathfield branch near Newton Abbot.

Sun Chariot said:

Recreated on Moors View?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Jul 2026 ==


Braunton station photo caption - attached - quotes D1012's appearance as: "...Western was reportedly covering for a failed loco on a paper train." The leading BSK was likely for guard's facilities; and possibly passengers' use too. I don't know what the train's usual motive power would've been in 1967-1970: D7xxx Hymek, or D63xx.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Jul 2026 ==


Rule One modelling says you can have at least two Whizzos.

Click to expand...

Sun Chariot said:

Recreated on Moors View?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Jul 2026 ==


Braunton station photo caption - attached - quotes D1012's appearance as: "...Western was reportedly covering for a failed loco on a paper train." The leading BSK was likely for guard's facilities; and possibly passengers' use too. I don't know what the train's usual motive power would've been in 1967-1970: D7xxx Hymek, or D63xx.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Jul 2026 ==


Rule One modelling says you can have at least two Whizzos.

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Usually D8XX because of the stiff gradients. Locomotive operation ended on 26 September 1970 (a week before the line's closure) with D810 Cockade working the final through service - the 13.55 to London Paddington.

rogercov said:

There are a few pictures of DMUs here. I think some of them may be 121s (and one looks like a 122).

Rails to Ilfracombe #1 – London Rail

Rails to Ilfracombe #2 – London Rail

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They all look like 116s, 117s or 118s to me, although some of them don't show enough to be sure. But there is no sign of a cab at both ends of any car, nor the telltale exhaust pipes in front of the cab windows at one end.
(The one with a 2-digit headcode is a 116, the four digit headcode box with a flat top is a 117, and with a curved top - as on the "Exmooor Belle" picture - is a 118)

londontransit said:

Usually D8XX because of the stiff gradients.

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According to the Ian Allan Gradient Profiles book, Ilfracombe-Mortehoe was mostly 1 in 36 and Braunton-Mortenhoe was mostly 1 in 40. These are similar to the Lickey Incline.

norbitonflyer said:

(The one with a 2-digit headcode is a 116, the four digit headcode box with a flat top is a 117, and with a curved top - as on the "Exmooor Belle" picture - is a 118)

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That's a new one on me, I hadn't noticed in my heady yoof. I've just scoured Railcar's excellent image library - all of the Pressed Steel examples I found have curved-top headcode boxes. Hmmm.

I think it was only about the first 4 class 117s that had the curved headcode box as per the class 118s. The majority had a more flat top to their headcode box.

Sprinter107 said:

I think it was only about the first 4 class 117s that had the curved headcode box as per the class 118s. The majority had a more flat top to their headcode box.

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Ah yes, "flat" seems from 51336 onward. Curved 51332, 51333, 51334, 51335. Every day is a railway school day!

And I'll stick OT now.

I think the final couple of images of 25 063 were of the train that was probably taking the scrap merchants along the line to assess what was there before tendering for removal. There was a thread almost exactly three years ago 1970 Paddington - Ilfracombe / Minehead train consists (or something similar) that discussed this.

I would think that the only time a Class 121 or 122 might be used on the Ilfracombe line would be if one was the only spare vehicle available. This could be for a complete failure or one-engine out leaving insufficient power for the line’s gradients. However, the likelihood of a vehicle being available spare at the right moment is small and makes this unlikely.

Magdalia said:

According to the Ian Allan Gradient Profiles book, Ilfracombe-Mortehoe was mostly 1 in 36 and Braunton-Mortenhoe was mostly 1 in 40. These are similar to the Lickey Incline.

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Maybe - but the fact is trains immediately faced a gruelling 1 in 36 start from Ilfracombe station!

Gloster said:

I would think that the only time a Class 121 or 122 might be used on the Ilfracombe line would be if one was the only spare vehicle available. This could be for a complete failure or one-engine out leaving insufficient power for the line’s gradients. However, the likelihood of a vehicle being available spare at the right moment is small and makes this unlikely.

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Single units sometimes deputised for a power car in a three car unit in the London area, but I don't know if Laira also dd this

norbitonflyer said:

Single units sometimes deputised for a power car in a three car unit in the London area, but I don't know if Laira also dd this

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My Devon and Cornwall memories are post closure of the Ilfracombe branch; but I never saw a LA 121 / 122 DMBS deputising for a [class 101, 118] DMS / DMBS.
In the London area, however, it was a well-used practice.

That "keeping one unit together" approach is pragmatic for managing a "TOPS engine hours" tally for the entire unit.

Class 122 ('Gloucester') bubble-cars were certainly used on the Halwill Junction - Torrington / Barnstaple services in the final months before closure ('64 / '65). Perhaps they also ventured to Ilfracombe occasionally, for there were a few short workings from Barnstaple? The final year ('66) of the North Cornwall Line (Okehampton - Bude / Padstow) also saw Cl 122 workings.

norbitonflyer said:

Single units sometimes deputised for a power car in a three car unit in the London area, but I don't know if Laira also dd this

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I don't know if this is relevant but curiously enough this evening I spotted what was a photo of three single car units in tandem running across Meldon viaduct during 1966. The consist is said to have come from Bude and Wadebridge (possibly even Padstow) all of which regularly saw single car units. Evidently it had merged at Halwill Junction.

Whether it indicates such a combo (or a single car even) had been to Ilfracombe is still anyone's guess!

Facebook - Branch Lines of the British Isles.

londontransit said:

this evening I spotted what was a photo of three single car units in tandem running across Meldon viaduct during 1966.

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Apologies for the pedantry, but various authors (particularly one in Devon!) have repeatedly muddled the terminology…….

DMUs coupled together will have been in multiple with one driver. Tandem operation implies coupled traction units operated separately.

Normally, DMUs would only be driven separately in a failure where they’d only be coupled mechanically to avoid transferring any faults.

I’ll get back in me box.

Back to the original question, and the dieselisation of the former Southern lines from around 1964 was done with a very motley group of secondhand diesel units from all around the Western Region, pretty much one of everything, which were then further switched around as things changed and lines closed. Everything from 4-wheel railbuses to Cross-Country units, based at Plymouth, at an initial dmu depot, a onetime carriage shed at Harwell Street, down the Millbay branch, used for much of the 1960s before the diesel cars moved over to Laira. There were also various diesel loco workings which came and went, D63xx more than others, but Warships and indeed odd appearances by others.

I never saw a single unit on Taunton to Barnstaple, and indeed only one or two ever at Taunton. I used to make a youthful trip every summer hols down the line (and indeed on to Ilfracombe and back) until it closed in October 1966; it was diesel only for its last three summers 1964-66. It used three Plymouth-based sets all day which didn't seem to cover anything else, all 2-car sets with the trailer removed. One Swindon Cross-Country Class 120, one Birmingham RCW suburban unit, and one Derby suburban Class 116. Note two of the three now had no first class, gone with the trailers, although the line was not shown as second class only, and indeed this was the case elsewhere as well, though for the handful of passengers carried it didn't matter.

There was a group of some nine 3-car suburban units transferred from Cardiff, which as the units were assigned indiscriminately were put on some long runs, notably a Salisbury to Ilfracombe service, which led to complaints about lack of toilets compared to the old SR steam-hauled stock, and started a campaign which worked up through local MPs, the Minister of Transport, the BR Chairman (possibly still Beeching), and then came down the instruction to "do something". There were also at Plymouth the nine late-production Swindon Cross-Country Class 120, with two of the three cars having toilets. So over a couple of weekends the two types exchanged trailers, giving 18 3-car units all of which had one toilet. The result looked ridiculous, with the different body styles and all the now useless gangway connections locked and hanging loose against the suburban cars. These sets can be seen in various photos, and indeed I recall my trips to Ilfracombe used them.

It's not quite Ilfracombe, but a bubble car made it to Torrington (and thus would have been to Barnstaple on the way) on what seems to have been an inspection run before the Barnstaple - Meeth line was lifted. https://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/latest-input--news--old-pictures-etc/21st-october-2020

norbitonflyer said:

They all look like 116s, 117s or 118s to me, although some of them don't show enough to be sure. But there is no sign of a cab at both ends of any car, nor the telltale exhaust pipes in front of the cab windows at one end.
(The one with a 2-digit headcode is a 116, the four digit headcode box with a flat top is a 117, and with a curved top - as on the "Exmooor Belle" picture - is a 118)

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I stand corrected
Thanks for the clarification.

Sprinter107 said:

I think it was only about the first 4 class 117s that had the curved headcode box as per the class 118s. The majority had a more flat top to their headcode box.

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I had missed that subtlety