Delay Minutes

[Gloster]

Believe that in those days “closure date” was the first day on which no services ran. New Year’s Eve 1952 was a Monday - presumably there was no Sunday service, so the last train would /should have been on Saturday 29th.

This is so: the normal practice with closure dates is the first day on which trains would have run, but didn’t. Normally this is a Monday, whether there was a Sunday or Saturday service or not. However, there are plenty of examples of the date being given as the last day that a train ran.

Indeed, the line to/from Tavistock South and Launceston, closed at the very end of 1962. Michael Williams in On The Slow Train suggests that it "prevent[ed] the closure of the line", although apparently* the last day of passenger services was 29 December and the line was officially closed on New Year's Eve, so unless it was stranded for days in the blizzard I'm not sure if this is actually true.

*Julian Holland, Exploring Britain's Lost Railways. Unless any members of the forum know differently, I assume he's a more authoritative source, as Williams is an excellent writer but of a rather more romantic style!

The last train to Launceston on Saturday 29 December only got as far as Tavistock South, arriving there at 00.25 on Sunday; it could go no further and the passengers spent the night in the train. The train itself was brought back to Plymouth on Monday afternoon.

The last train from Tavistock got no further than Bickleigh and the few on board spent most of the night in the signalbox. A relief engine got out on Sunday and left for Plymouth with the train at around 16.00; on board were three additional people who had hiked out to Bickleigh and had come in to ask about trains to Plymouth. The railwaymen, many of whom were about to lose their jobs, worked in appalling conditions trying to keep the line open.

Source: The Launceston Branch (Anthony, revised Jenkins, Oakwood, 1997).

 

[Purple Train]

This is so: the normal practice with closure dates is the first day on which trains would have run, but didn’t. Normally this is a Monday, whether there was a Sunday or Saturday service or not. However, there are plenty of examples of the date being given as the last day that a train ran.



The last train to Launceston on Saturday 29 December only got as far as Tavistock South, arriving there at 00.25 on Sunday; it could go no further and the passengers spent the night in the train. The train itself was brought back to Plymouth on Monday afternoon.

The last train from Tavistock got no further than Bickleigh and the few on board spent most of the night in the signalbox. A relief engine got out on Sunday and left for Plymouth with the train at around 16.00; on board were three additional people who had hiked out to Bickleigh and had come in to ask about trains to Plymouth. The railwaymen, many of whom were about to lose their jobs, worked in appalling conditions trying to keep the line open.

Source: The Launceston Branch (Anthony, revised Jenkins, Oakwood, 1997).

Thank you