Class 50 cabride Exeter - Salisbury 

This must be filmed post 1983, as that was when Templecombe Station was reopened. Thank you for bringing old memorise back to me

Great Video. Reminds me of when I started work on the Railway at Oxford in 1988. I use to catch a train at 06:50 from Banbury every morning. This service was the Banbury to Paddington . Every day it would be a class 50 with 8 mk1 coaches on . Use to lean out of the window and hear the engine working hard pulling away from the station. Really miss the loc and coach’s, these plastic trains now are not the same. I went from Reading to Exeter last year on a class 800. They are quite impressive with their acceleration .

Very scenic ride and love those English Electric locomotives.

That was some run! Only now are people beginning to appreciate the gross disservice done to this country by Beeching sixty years ago. Difficult to imagine the work undertaken laying these tracks,all by hand,possibly with a steam shovel,but mostly long hard days,summer and winter,sleeping in tents,and just digging day in day out. Definitely a bygone age.

"...in such a chain of diverse circumstances was one of the finest main lines in the country built up. Although constructed as a series of disjointed units the line from Basingstoke to Salisbury and Exeter forms incomparably the best line from London to the West; and the fact it is such a good route - so free from curves and petty restrictions - owes much to the massive influence of Joseph Locke..." - Nock, O.S., 'The London and South Western Railway' (London, 1965), p. 31

I remember that climb from St Davids to Central in the late 1940's when a Merchant Navy or a West Country would have 2 E1/R tanks assisting. A lovely experperience, thanks for the ride! Viewed frrom Queensland Aust.

I spent the best part if 17 years driving 159s up and down this line. I would by have loved to experience what it was like in a class 50...not the breakdowns though especially with no mobile phones. My workmates at Sals told me how they had to go across a field to a farmhouse sometimes. Very long sections, few signals and few phones. I used to joke that the next signal was in the next county they were so far apart.

Sounds fantastic. I actually drove from Exmouth to Salisbury last week, takes bloody ages. Would rather have been on this train.

A lovely little piece of history - thank you for making & sharing! :)

Lovely to hear that big old 16CSVT digging in on the steep climb up to Exeter Central.

Cannot stop watching. Brilliant

Wonderful nostalgic scenes of bucolic West of England. Even the weather was perfect. Thank you.

Great video and my favourite loco and seeing that climb from St David's to Central is sommack, listening to that engine working on headphones is wonderful as well you get a great sense of the power of these magnificent machines. Use to work a lot down here in my railway DAYS, litter picked all the stations and worked on almost all the structures. Thank you

Great video !! In your description, a reminder of some grafitti years ago on the "Do not flush the toilet while in a station" sign...... Under it was scrawled "Except at Aldershot".......!!!!!! 🤣🤣🤣

That 1:37 incline just before Exeter C is incredible!

This is brilliant what a treat really enjoy the scenery and look forward to the next posting

A great vidio I have really enjoyed watching it. Many thanks Chris 👍🎈

Thank you very much for this video, it is very interesting for me!

Classic and iconic sound of the Class 50 hoover ❤

Hi there Norbert, well we've been meandering with you for quite some time now and enjoying the journey, always so good to be out and about with you. The cab view is immersive and very relaxing I find. Anyway just wanted to drop by and say thank you.

Excellent video made even better with name of stations captioned. Even today, 30.11.19, class 50 locos are pulling a charter train from Bristol to Newcastle with similar toilets on mk1 coaches!

This is great. Thanks for posting.

Thanks for the class50 cab ride. The 50 are beautiful diesels. Some great countryside and run down railways that one day might recover to be a better network!!😎🐓🐓🇬🇧

As I am now finally not a newie living in Honiton (Moved here in 2000) it is great to see the massive changes on the railway and surrounding countryside.Whimple before they extended the left hand platform out to meet the track and removed the right hand platform. Honiton Wow station has chamged. That ticket office was there when I moved down here but was soon replaced by a loverly new and bigger one. Signal box now gone and where George Blake saw mills now a new building and Bradfords. Also the house i have was not built yet just fields. Exeter Central have removed all those large planters within the last year and a half and done some new work to spruce the station up with the new lifts installed. Exeter St Davids now a massive change within the last two years. A new and inproved TSD for the class 150s and now finished the new large GWR offices and spares building. I started coming down here in 1996 when my sister moved to Whimple. Use the route from Honiton to Exeter weekly befor this covid 19. We were just starting to get the goverment to see dueling the line would be a good thing and the passanger numbers are still rising. Trains were getting packed at all times of the day before covid. Thanks for posting this video.

amazing loco drive my friend..love from india❤🇮🇳

0:07 Exeter St Davids (Depart) 1:59 Exeter Central (2:52 Depart) 3:42 St James Park 3:59 Blackboy Tunnel 5:44 Exmouth Junction 8:37 Pinhoe (9:17 Depart) 11:35 Broad Clyst (Disused) 14:32 Whimple 17:30 Feniton 21:11 Honiton (21:44 Depart) 24:01 Honiton Tunnel 28:14 Seaton Junction (Disused) 30:53 Axminster (31:22 Depart) 36:52 Chard Junction (Disused) 43:28 Crewkerne (45:53 Depart) 51:44 Yeovil Junction (52:15 Depart) 57:14 Sherborne (57:41 Depart) 1:02:34 Milborne Port (Disused) 1:05:55 Templecombe (1:06:27 Depart) 1:10:28 Buckhorn Weston Tunnel 1:12:56 Gillingham (1:13:28 Depart) 1:18:38 Semley (Disused) 1:23:16 Tisbury (1:23:36 Depart) 1:32:26 Wilton South (Disused) 1:35:32 Salisbury (Arrive)

This is a wonderful film!

Happy memories of trainspotting on Salisbury station on Saturday afternoons in the late 80s! :-) Half expected to see myself on the platform somewhere!

Class 50's on this route. they were the days!

Many great memories of cycling down to Feniton station aged about 12 or 13 and then catching the train, making it move forward so that the guard's van was adjacent to the short platform!

This is an amazing video and you really get an idea of how fast the old girl is going.

A real treat. Thanks.

What a great cab ride. Thanks for sharing it. cheers. James/FFV.

Wonderful video! Travelled over this line many times in the seventies and eighties, but never drove over it. Thanks for posting!

In my half-term holidays in Exeter in the early seventies, my friends and I would get Rail-Rover tickets for the week. Our favourite was the ticket that covered the run to Salisbury; we travelled that line so many times!

I like hd 4k vids like everyone but this is great...good to hear the engines sounds and track noise etc...ty

Interesting as the film reveals "Wrong Line Working", between Exmouth Junction and Pinhoe station (Due to track relaying). Probably filmed on a Sunday. NOTE: The train stops at the signal (displaying a red) just after "Black Boy Tunnel". The Flagman standing by the signal, communicates by signal post phone with the signalman in Exmouth Junction box a couple of hundred yards further on, before giving the Driver permission to pass the signal at Danger, and "Proceed at Caution Wrong Line" to Pinhoe station. At Pinhoe another flagman is waiting on the platform exhibiting a red signal (hand held flag). He must liase with both Exmouth Junction signalbox, and the Person In Charge (PIC) of the level crossing. Which has to be operated manually, in this situation, as this CCT (Circuit Controlled Television) full barrier crossing, is not fitted with bi-directional automatic control. Hence the PIC standing the other side of the crossing, awaiting instructions to lower the barrier, once the signalman gives permission. The Driver & Guard, would of course have known in advance of the track occupation, and the method going to be used to pass trains. As all this information would have been printed in what were known as the "Weekly Notices", which were given to ALL staff likely to be involved, such as train crew, signalmen and track staff. All the carefully laid out rules are of course in the then BR Rule Book, to cater SAFELY, for such out of course operations !!!!!!!

At 27:29 the driver, for at first no apparent reason, sounds the two tone horn. However, there is an unusual reason why. At 27:48 the train crosses a road bridge, and there's a house just visible. The lady who occupied that house was a pensioner, who always used to wave to the trains as they passed by. She was so well known for doing so, the drivers started to blast their horns to let her know they were coming. Sadly, in November 1987, the 84 year old was found murdered, and the case featured on Crimewatch. Her killer was later caught, and jailed for life. Incidentally, the village the train passes at 27:48 is called Shute.

A great video thanks for uploading. I do like an 80s cab ride video. Was very surprised at the amount of single track between two large towns.

Very interesting to see the Chilmark connection and Dinton yard. Thank you for posting.

Great vid., thank you.

Crewkerne Station canopy. One can still see the repair to the canopy after 'Bibby Line's escapade in 1953!

There is a small section of redoubled track either side of Axminster which is a sign of improvement, but it cost millions to reinstate. Singling 0f trunk routes was a rather stupid short term measure that has turned out to be a very expensive mistake.

What it must of felt driving one of them 50s flying along through the remote countryside at speed on a single track a bloody thrill that must of been

Nice to see the old layout at Gillingham, the buffer stop is still locked behind the signalbox but the track lifted. The overgrown up siding is actually often in use. Ironic in back in the eighties I would have lamp and stores serviced this 50 led service up at Waterloo never for once thinking I would be living quite close to one of its stations in deepest Dorset.

nice to see Gillingham which was my station for Mere.

Great stuff. Thanks.

As a one time user of the Atlantic Coast Express (ACE), it was sad to see this extended branch line now.

This line should never have been singled. Also noted that BR didn’t have much money in those days but compared to Notwork Rail at least they used to keep the railways tidy.

This 50 sounds in great order and performing well.. wish I could have done more on this route. Did manage a run right towards the end of the 50s on here.

Ding ding! I'm a tram 🚋 and I approve this video! Great footage!!

According to Wikipedia there are 18 "Hoovers" in preservation around the country.

Feniton, used to be known as Sidmouth Junction !

he certainly got that loco motoring :) good video

Fabulous trip great to see where the old track bed was before network rail made much of the line single track until we got to Yeovil junction

This video is as if it was yesterday for me! I first travelled down to Exeter from Salisbury in the mid 80's, then as luck would have it from the late 80's for the next 10 years I use to travel down to Devon on business one day a week. I would travel down by train one day a week from Salisbury to Exeter St Davids, then change to go onto either Torquay, Paignton or Plymouth, each alternative week I would drive, there wasn't a lot of difference in time taken going by car or train! I clearly remember the class 50's being on their last legs with Glorious the last of its class to go, then the class 47's taking over with the odd class 33 being substituted until the class 159's took over in the early 90's. When the 159's took over the fortunes of the line took off with the improved timings and with passenger numbers increasing, now it's difficult to get a seat sometimes it's so busy. To improve timings further they have now double tracked outside Axminster, I could never understand why they didn't utilise the long stretch of double track that was insitu at Dinton to improve timings, those sidings there which used to serve the RAF at Chilmark have long gone. It's wonderful to see this journey from the cab. Great video and thanks for posting.

Nice video! 🚂👍

Very nice real time journey video with station captions, took me back in Sep- Oct stay at Yeovil and my weekly journey to Waterloo and back to yeovil Jn. Via Salisbury, Basingstoke and woking...

Great video, nice channel, subbed!

Nice to see this route in the daylight. In November 1992 I worked a charter along here to Waterloo with a pair of 31s and a 33 providing the ETH and all I remember was the route had a lot of steep gradients both up and down on it. I had a few traction motor flashovers!

Camped overnight near Milborne Port, and awoke to the sound of a Cl.50 heading down to Yeovil Jct. The guy in the station buffet was a little surprised to have a customer at 06:30 in the morning wanting a cup of tea and a sausage sarnie. Happy days.

Getting a class 50 for my n gauge. Hoovers were pilloried atm but I was a secret fan.

I remember seeing the Hoovers thundering through Surbiton and making a hell of a noise when they hit the bridge to the south of the station!!!!

Views of England hithertoo seen only by the few - thanks so m,uch!

Just watched this and what a journey! A really fast trip - non stop from Pinhoe to Axminster. What a travesty to single this line, far superior to the winding GWR Hants & Berks line which hardly called at at any significant town. This line should never have been singled. I only hope I live long enough to see far more doubling of the track, and some semi-fast trains west of Salisbury. Fingers crossed!

I watch this almost daily so looking forward to Salisbury - Waterloo chief.

Awesome sound storming up the bank out of St. D. I wonder did the pilotman who came on between Exmouth Jct and Pinhoe have to wait for the next train back, which would have been the best part of two hours, or did he get a lift back?

THE HOVER TRAIN!

wow nice job

Whilst slagging off Beeching, it's worth looking at Marples and the whole thinking of the Government back then.

I wonder if the tunnel @ 3:57 has been re-named!!! Also, I remember seeing the Hoovers thundering through Surbiton at 75 mph, and the noise they made as they accelerated up through the cutting towards Clapham!!!!

... and a solitary tear rolls down my cheek.

Not a line I've used often, but I have used it. One of my first times was when, instead of Yeovil Junction, mum felt Crewkerne more convenient. We left Yeovil Junction and a little further on was stopped at a signal. Or so we thought. As the train started, we realised our carriage was too far back for the platform and as we glided through, so there was Uncle Roy waiting for us looking perplexed. We had to travel to Axminster to get a train back. That was 1975 so my guess it would have been a 47, possibly a 50: would that stretch of line have been single at that time?

Nice journey, but what a racket. It sounded as though the loco was going to shake itself to pieces.

Wish you would show more of in the cab working driver etc,

I really wish i had a time machine so i could ride these fabulous locos and be able to lean out and have fun. 😔

83,584 views Still climbing very nice!

How long before they make them change the name of the tunnel just past S james Park?

What's the siding trailing in from the left just before Exeter Central? No longer there according to google maps, and whatever was there before now seems to be an apartment block.

Yes, never use the toilet at a station.... unless its slough. Seriously though I enjoyed that. Especial when the train visited the station of my home town of Sherborne.

Congrats on reaching 30.000 views chief any update on Salisbury - Waterloo or Salisbury back to Exeter?

When was this from? Looks around late 80's early 90's possibly?

Hi I like your train video do you have the class 50 carbide from salisbury to exeter? Please

That's Hellfire!

Re-Post chief any reason why or you have more than one run and picked the wrong version?

Very interesting, do you know when it was filmed ? Looks 1990's ?

Was this 2 track back when it was The Southern Railways' flagship route to the southwest?

Ah the memories! I often used to take a half day off work, train up to Waterloo then Class 50 down to Gillingham & back, and then back home to Leatherhead by teamtime. Went on a 159 once but oh so boring! Never did it again. Amongst many other trips I once did Exeter-Yeovil on a diverted 'Cornish Scot' with 13 coaches and banked up to Central by another 50 on the back. Also one evening Exeter-Basingstoke with a driver in a hurry - flat out between the stops. I won't say what speeds I was timing! And finally, I could sometimes here the 50s on the down newspaper train from where I (later) lived near Farnham - more than 3 miles from the railway. Oh joy. Wish they'd bring em back.

Excellent cab ride, what year was this filmed as there is only single track a lot of the way.

Was the point just before Exeter Central in the wrong position on the left??

Ah how I miss that 16 CSVT syncopathed 'chant rom hell'. Back here in Portugal we used to have 10 'Hoover sisters'. The sound was a little different (a different model of turbos), but the engine was the same ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MORiNRthLzc.html

Hmm what year was this filmed?

Nice video! Do you know what year this video was filmed? Roughly! (I'm guesstimating 1980s due to Network South East branding?)

Really interesting to see a historical run on a Class 50. So much has changed on the line but sad because I remember how it was in 1964 as a double line main line. So badly down graded.

The old warships used to run this route before the 50s

From 34:00 to about 35:50, the track seemed really rough. Jointed rail, and wooden sleepers?

great vid NN. Can you put a date on this.? found by accident, i get to see - at a distance ,the family home. Thanks.

🚂👍

Definately Filmed on a Sunday with the Relaying job going on at Exmouth Junction.

Can you update your video, you have missed Sutton Bingham (disused) station, the platform edge is clearly seen in your video! Sutton Bingham is just south of Yeovil Junction opposite the large reservoir.