Newton Abbot 1987

[Keverton1978]

I'm starting to model Newton Abbot in c1987.
I'm struggling to find out what times the Penzance -Paddington & Paddington to Penzance mail trains would have stopped.
Any help with this or any other parcel traffic around this time would be most helpful.

 

[Cowley]

I'm starting to model Newton Abbot in c1987.
I'm struggling to find out what times the Penzance -Paddington & Paddington to Penzance mail trains would have stopped.
Any help with this or any other parcel traffic around this time would be most helpful.

This might be something @30907 may have timetables of? It’s a same era as the one I model, plus it’s the area I was out and about in at the time so I’ll be watching this with interest.

There used to be a Plymouth to Bristol mixed passenger and vans which ran Monday to Friday in 1987, maybe 16:25 off Plymouth and 17:25 at Exeter st David’s? I seem to remember it being made up of around 5 BGs and a similar amount of mk1 passenger stock, usually hauled by a 50.

It was quite unusual to see a mix like this on that route, which is probably why it’s stayed with me.

 

[chrisdoward]

This might be something @30907 may have timetables of? It’s a same era as the one I model, plus it’s the area I was out and about in at the time so I’ll be watching this with interest.

There used to be a Plymouth to Bristol mixed passenger and vans which ran Monday to Friday in 1987, maybe 16:25 off Plymouth and 17:25 at Exeter st David’s? I seem to remember it being made up of around 5 BGs and a similar amount of mk1 passenger stock, usually hauled by a 50.

It was quite unusual to see a mix like this on that route, which is probably why it’s stayed with me.

The Paddington - Penzance TPO's and vice versa in the May 1987 WTT were:

1C83 22:25 Paddington - Penzance calling at Newton Abbot 0258 - 0308 Formed NJX/NUV/3NSX/NUV/NTX/NJX
1A01 19:22 Penzance - Paddington calling at Newton Abbot 2232 - 2238. formation would have been similar, although the timing load was D420 vice D315 for 1C83, so may have had more vans attached.

Both trains were booked to be hauled by a Class 50.

NJV - GUV vacuum braked.
NJX - GUV dual braked.
NUV - Brake Post Office Stowage van vacuum braked.
NSX - Post Office Sorting Van dual braked
NTX - Pot Office Stowage Van dual braked.


The train Cowley is referring to is 1F84 13:52 Penzance to Bristol Temple Meads which was vans only to Plymouth and had passsenger coaches added at Plymouth during its' stop from 1606 - 1621.

 

[Gloster]

The 00.30 Paddington-Penzance News would have run through without stopping around 03.30 and the Taunton-Paignton News, a portion off the 00.30, would have arrived around 04.00 or a bit later; I think it paused before continuing down the branch. There was an up parcels from Plymouth, departure 05.55 or 06.00 which also, I think, ran through as this was primarily the empty Plymouth News vans; I think that the Paignton ones had already been worked up to Exeter and it collected them there. I think that the 13.52 Penzance would probably have included a couple of empty News-branded vans off the 00.30.

My recollections are from a couple of years earlier and largely from the other side of Exeter.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Newton Abbot was extensively rationalised and re-signalled in 1987 of course...

 

[Keverton1978]

Thankyou very much for the in depth responses!

 

[chrisdoward]

Thankyou very much for the in depth responses!

Further to my earlier post and others since:
The formation for 1C04 00:30 Paddington - Penzance News through Newton Abbot was NXX/NDV/NCV/3NLX (2 which were detached at Plymouth). The NXX was Motorail cars for passengers on 1C02 23:59 Paddington - Penzance Night Riviera.

The formation for 1C06 02:56 Taunton to Paignton News through Newton Abbot was NCV and 2 NJV. A van was detached at Exeter St. Davids for Barnstaple.
The vans worked back from Paignton as 3C27 05:10 to Newton Abbot arriving at 05:23 and were attached to 3A27 during its' stop at Newton AAbbot from 07:34 to 07:44.

Van codes:
NXX - GUV Motorail - 90mph dual braked.
NDV - BG - Vacuum braked.
NCV - BG news - Vacuum braked.
NLX - GUV news -Vacuum braked.

 

[Cowley]

The Paddington - Penzance TPO's and vice versa in the May 1987 WTT were:

1C83 22:25 Paddington - Penzance calling at Newton Abbot 0258 - 0308 Formed NJX/NUV/3NSX/NUV/NTX/NJX
1A01 19:22 Penzance - Paddington calling at Newton Abbot 2232 - 2238. formation would have been similar, although the timing load was D420 vice D315 for 1C83, so may have had more vans attached.

Both trains were booked to be hauled by a Class 50.

NJV - GUV vacuum braked.
NJX - GUV dual braked.
NUV - Brake Post Office Stowage van vacuum braked.
NSX - Post Office Sorting Van dual braked
NTX - Pot Office Stowage Van dual braked.


The train Cowley is referring to is 1F84 13:52 Penzance to Bristol Temple Meads which was vans only to Plymouth and had passsenger coaches added at Plymouth during its' stop from 1606 - 1621.

Very helpful, thanks for filling in the details.

Newton Abbot was extensively rationalised and re-signalled in 1987 of course...

Yes it was rapidly shrinking around that time, quite sad to see actually. Still an interesting variety of traffic though.

 

[a good off]

Are you modelling the version of 1987 with through lines and semaphores or what was left after rationalisation?

 

[Helvellyn]

So what would the Night Riveria formation have been in 1987? This was just before sector codes came so the Mk 3A Sleepers were still based at Wembley, possibly common user with the West Coast ones.

The 1987 Platform 5 Combined Edition shows all Sleepers based at BN or WB, bar a handful at EC.

The 1988 Platform 5 Combined Edition still shows all Sleepers based at BN, WB or EC but of the WB ones 11 are in pool IWRX (InterCity Great Western):

• SLEP - 10533, 10552, 10558, 10584, 10588, 10594, 10595 and 10601
• SLE - 10658, 10686 and 10720

All are Blue/Grey, apart from 10594 and 10720, which are shown as InterCity Executive.

Interestingly the 1988 volume has a picture of SLEP 10542 in InterCity Executive livery passing through Acton in an ECS formation on 24/04/87. Not sure when in 1987 the sector codes came in but according to the book 10542 is allocated to IWCX for West Coast.

At least it gives the option of including a couple of InterCity Executive Sleepers into an otherwise Blue/Grey formation if that's one of the services to model.

Also, 1987 is when most of the Motorail GUVs were renumbered by InterCity into the 961xx series. 96185 (ex 93083), 96186 (ex 93087) and 96190 (ex 93448) are all in pool IWRX allocated to OM and carrying Blue/Grey. They are also shown as being NXX. So again, you could model them as the Motorail GUVs in the 93xxx series as part of the Newspaper train mentioned up thread, or numbered in the 961xx series - not sure if sectorisation saw the Motorail Vans being switched to be in the Sleeper.

Just checked the 1989 Combined Volume and that has a picture of 96185 between a Newspaper Packing Van (94000-94034 series) and a 95xxx series Newspaper NC, both in Blue, with the Motorail Van in very weathered Blue/Grey - but the train is at Newport, dated April 1988!

 

[chrisdoward]

The Down Night Riviera 1C02 00:05 Paddington - Penzance during the May 1987 Timetable was booked to be formed:

4 AC2D - Mk2D TSO
AB1D - Mk2D BFK
NDX - BG Dual Braked
AU4G - Mk3 SLEP
AS4G - Mk3 SLE
AU4G - Mk3 SLEP These coaches worked through to Penzance
AU4G - Mk3 SLE
NDX - BG Dual Braked These two coaches were detached at Plymouth.

The Passenger coaches were diagrams OM277 (FX) and OM278 (FO)
The Sleeper coaches were diagrams WB576/574

The Up Night Riviera would have been similar but for the addition of the NXX - GUV conveying Motorail, which went down to Penzance as part of 1C04 00:30 Paddingotn to Penzance as noted in an earlier post.

 

[Dave W]

Since the up appears to convey the Motorail van itself, is there an operational reason that didn't happen on the down service? Would the cars arrive first?

 

[Gloster]

Since the up appears to convey the Motorail van itself, is there an operational reason that didn't happen on the down service? Would the cars arrive first?

I suspect that it made station working at Paddington easier as you only had to use the train loco to collect the Motorail van from the dock and drop on to the front of the train. At Penzance the pilot could move the van across as soon as the News was empty, which was pretty soon after it arrived, rather than having to wait until the sleeping passengers had left before you shunted it across to the dock (where the impatient drivers were waiting), or having even more last-minute shunting at Paddington if you wanted it on the rear for quick access at Penzance. It was also a heavy train, so one vehicle less was welcome.

 

[chrisdoward]

Since the up appears to convey the Motorail van itself, is there an operational reason that didn't happen on the down service? Would the cars arrive first?

Yes the cars would arrive first 0030 Paddington at 06:54 and the Night Riveria at 08:37. I presume it was done to ease the shunting of the Motorail van at both ends (ie Paddington and Penzance).

EDiT: Gloster has the same point while I was typing my reply.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Jan 2026 ==

I'll add a further point to illustrate the complexity of Motorail at Paddington.

On Summer Saturdays during the 1987 timetable 1C19 08:38 Paddington to Penzance and 1A56 11:02 Penzance to Paddington both conveyed a Motorail van.
The Motorail van for 1C19 was at the London end of Plaftorm 9 at Paddington as there was a loading point for cars there. The stock for 1C19 arrived in Platform 10 and was then shunted by the train locomotive to Platform 9 to attach the van. Friday night's Up Night Riveria was booked to arrive in Platform 8, so I presume the van was shunted for unloading.

1A56 11:02 Penzance to Paddington was booked to arrive in Platform 1 at Paddington and the Motorail van was then shunted to Platform 1A for the cars to be unloaed.

 

[Keverton1978]

There was a 16:21 Plymouth to Bristol that I think originated from Penzance at 13:52. In the timetable there is also a 16:40 Paignton to Exeter St David’s….
Can anyone explain what happened with these two trains as they appear to use the same path between Newton Abbot & Exeter…..

 

[chrisdoward]

There was a 16:21 Plymouth to Bristol that I think originated from Penzance at 13:52. In the timetable there is also a 16:40 Paignton to Exeter St David’s….
Can anyone explain what happened with these two trains as they appear to use the same path between Newton Abbot & Exeter…..

1F84 13:52 Penzance - Bristol Temple Meads (16:21 Plymouth) called at Newton Abbot 16:58 to 17;03 and was non-stop to Exeter St. Davids.
2C47 16:40 Paignton - Exeter St. Davids called at Newton Abbott 16:58 to 17:10 and was all stations to Exeter St. Davids.

The Penzance - Bristol train called at Platform 3 at Newton Abbot and the train from Paignton called at Platform 1 at Newton Abbot. Parallel moves were possilbe as the Paignton train ran along the Up/Dn Relief from Newton Abbot West Jn. The 16:40 was the stock off 1V12 11:59 Portsmouth Harbour to Paignton, so was NSE Mk2's although there would have still been some blue/grey coaches/

 

[Cowley]

1F84 13:52 Penzance - Bristol Temple Meads (16:21 Plymouth) called at Newton Abbot 16:58 to 17;03 and was non-stop to Exeter St. Davids.
2C47 16:40 Paignton - Exeter St. Davids called at Newton Abbott 16:58 to 17:10 and was all stations to Exeter St. Davids.

The Penzance - Bristol train called at Platform 3 at Newton Abbot and the train from Paignton called at Platform 1 at Newton Abbot. Parallel moves were possilbe as the Paignton train ran along the Up/Dn Relief from Newton Abbot West Jn. The 16:40 was the stock off 1V12 11:59 Portsmouth Harbour to Paignton, so was NSE Mk2's although there would have still been some blue/grey coaches/

Lots of memories being bought back here. After school in 1986/1987 I’d often go straight down to St David’s and catch the 17:25 Exeter - Paignton down to St Thomas (yep, really racking up the miles with my pocket money there ), which was invariably formed of an Eastleigh class 33 and 5 or 6 blue and grey mk1s. A couple of times it featured a class 31, but that was pretty unusual.

I’d then go down the stairs, cross to the other side and wait for the 16:40 ex Paignton which was as you say a (virtually empty) rake of mk2s in blue and grey/NSE livery. I did this many many times and it was always a class 50 on that train.

 

[Keverton1978]

1F84 13:52 Penzance - Bristol Temple Meads (16:21 Plymouth) called at Newton Abbot 16:58 to 17;03 and was non-stop to Exeter St. Davids.
2C47 16:40 Paignton - Exeter St. Davids called at Newton Abbott 16:58 to 17:10 and was all stations to Exeter St. Davids.

The Penzance - Bristol train called at Platform 3 at Newton Abbot and the train from Paignton called at Platform 1 at Newton Abbot. Parallel moves were possilbe as the Paignton train ran along the Up/Dn Relief from Newton Abbot West Jn. The 16:40 was the stock off 1V12 11:59 Portsmouth Harbour to Paignton, so was NSE Mk2's although there would have still been some blue/grey coaches/

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 24 Jan 2026 ==

Thankyou!! Makes sense now

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 24 Jan 2026 ==

Thankyou!! Makes sense now