Railway locations from the past

[Irascible]

I think the fact they called it Tiverton Junction was an indication there was very little of any significance there and it was mainly a place to change trains. I presume it was there basically because that's where geography suggested the branches could most easily join the main line and I suspect also the meat packers located there because that's where the station was.

It was my local station for quite a while - there wasn't much there locally, no. I was mostly curious why it was being lumped into the "bizarrely huge traffic centre" pot. The Bristol & Exeter nearly went via Tiverton & Crediton to Exeter, so the branch might have been the one down the Culm instead.

According to the Wikipedia page on Lloyd Maunder, the company moved to Willand (from Witheridge?) in 1913 because it was on the railway and the company was a major supplier to businesses in London, including Sainsburys. All I can remember is visiting the signal box and being dashed glad that I hadn’t applied for a job there due to the stink from the meat processing plant.

As an additional comment about the fuel depot, I came across a reference that suggested it was taken over by Esso in 1957.

Ugh, that smell almost managed to associate itself with railways in general. Not quite as bad as Bridgwater, but not great.

 

[Ashley Hill]

The Bristol & Exeter nearly went via Tiverton & Crediton to Exeter, so the branch might have been the one down the Culm instead.

The chicken processing factory at Crediton used to kick out a hell of a stink too.

 

[Pigeon]

It was my local station for quite a while - there wasn't much there locally, no. I was mostly curious why it was being lumped into the "bizarrely huge traffic centre" pot.

Exactly because there wasn't much there locally, and it was one of those places that became what it was simply because it was an easy place to make the railways join up.

Ugh, that smell almost managed to associate itself with railways in general. Not quite as bad as Bridgwater, but not great.

So the horrible smell coming into Bridgwater is from a meat processing plant? I always wondered what it was. Glad it doesn't smell like that when you eat it.

 

[Western Sunset]

Sheeps Pasture - what a location!

Or even Sheep Pasture.

 

[Gloster]

I always thought the smell over Bridgewater was from British Cellophane.

 

[Irascible]

Exactly because there wasn't much there locally, and it was one of those places that became what it was simply because it was an easy place to make the railways join up.

It was originally Tiverton Road, which is rather pushing the limits of that naming convention...

I guess it was vaguely large before the freight traffic died - the site itself isn't especially big.

I always thought the smell over Bridgewater was from British Cellophane.

Yes. Definitely got in my nose more than Maunders - can't imagine working next to that.

 

[Pigeon]

It was originally Tiverton Road, which is rather pushing the limits of that naming convention...

And now they're using the same name translated into modern for its replacement.

I guess it was vaguely large before the freight traffic died - the site itself isn't especially big.

Same with a lot of these places. The Midland went through a few iterations of the location of their main splitting/joining/connecting station south-east of Manchester as they brought their various new routes into service; they used Marple and New Mills before they ended up at Chinley, and both those sites were a bit of a squash.

 

[Gloster]

It was originally Tiverton Road, which is rather pushing the limits of that naming convention...

I guess it was vaguely large before the freight traffic died - the site itself isn't especially big.



Yes. Definitely got in my nose more than Maunders - can't imagine working next to that.

Looking at the 1979 edition of Cooke’s Diagrams it seems that after the 1932 rebuilding, although there were a fair number of sidings, most were probably for marshalling trains. Other than those for Maunders, facilities for local goods trafic seem to have been limited. There were lines going in all directions and fair sized goods yards close by at both Cullompton and Tiverton.