BR in the 1980s- The Alan Harrison Collection Part 17 St Blazey & Par (British Rail Trains)

[@ashleymartin4106]

I loved next to this line / station in the late 80s saw a whole lot of new 37s and old I used to visit the depot and get some great photos. .

[@kartwheelkarl]

Thank you for another great comment Ashley. During the 80s, I had a friend called Adrian; seem to remember him living in Torquay. I was so jealous of him because he had ridden behind all of the class 50s and could readily access places such as this; places that seemed distant and exotic to a young lad from Manchester. The funny thing was, he would come to visit us because he envied what we had around the north west, things we took for granted. Looking back now, none of us should have taken what we had for granted should we? Happy days eh? Thank you for sharing your memories and really glad Alan and I could help you relive them.

[@mikehsmith1]

Excellent selection of varied traffic. Takes me back :-)

[@kartwheelkarl]

Thanks for the great comment Mike. Really glad to be able to bring back happy memories.

[@kartwheelkarl]

Thanks for the great comment Mike. Really glad to be able to bring back happy memories.

[@Isochest]

God what a wholesome railway. Mixed Goods trains. We hardly see these now!

[@kartwheelkarl]

Absolutely Isochest. Wasn’t it brilliant?

[@KV12543]

Superb Video - some great information for my proposed model based on Par during this period.

[@kartwheelkarl]

Thanks KV. Really glad you're enjoying the collection and that this episode in particular has been so useful.

[@Thunderer0872]

Excellent quality video from 1986 thanks for posting, Cornwall, Semaphore signals and a bucket load of Hoovers what's not to like?

[@kartwheelkarl]

I couldn’t agree more Gillinghamgus. Really glad you’re enjoying the collection.

[@craigmunday47515]

Absolutely brilliant. I model this period and the coach formations are particularly helpful. I work Par box nowadays but wish I'd been around for this (I was on the YTS back then).

[@IdleHandJnr]

I was just thinking the same thing about how useful this is for coach formations as I model this period too - just as I thought I was getting a good handle on this knowledge I saw numerous additional variations in this vid that blew what I thought I knew out of the water!

[@kartwheelkarl]

So glad that these vids have been so useful Craig. Thanks for your kind words.

[@kartwheelkarl]

IdleHandJnr so glad you’re enjoying the collection IHJ and that these vids have been so useful

[@kevinfowkes2327]

Agreed, the coach formations are arguably the most interesting aspect. In particular, it's surprising how short most of the express trains are, especially given this was filmed in mid summer. Some of these would have been "jumbo trains" from Paddington to Penzance which often loaded 12 coaches. This seems to suggest that several coaches from many Cornish expresses were routinely detached at Plymouth.

[@IanHutchman]

In the good old days when it was ECC.

[@kartwheelkarl]

ECC? I have to admit, I'm not sure what that means JY, but I'm really glad you enjoyed the video.

[@squeaksvids5886]

Smashing video, thanks.

[@kartwheelkarl]

Thanks Paul.

[@JohnPW22]

Superb!!!

[@kartwheelkarl]

Thanks John.

[@TITAOTT-3A]

You’ll see barely anything at St Blazey depot nowadays… usually just a 66 or two.

[@kartwheelkarl]

I'll be honest, I wasn't even sure the depot was still operational. I seem to remember reading about it having had the turntable upgraded a couple of years back so they could turn steam locos from railtours. Is that still the case?

[@TITAOTT-3A]

@@kartwheelkarl yes, the turntable was in fact upgraded for railtours.

[@ashleymartin4106]

Yes a great video but I do believe that 50007 is going to Penzance not Plymouth.

[@kartwheelkarl]

Thank you for your fabulous comments Ashley, and I’m really glad you’re enjoying the collection. Given that you are a local to the area, I am most certainly not going to dispute your observation about 50007. Many of the comments I made about Alan’s videos were based on research using books and google; sadly, in many cases, I had not personally visited the location in which Alan was filming. This was one of those cases. Whilst I have ridden from Plymouth to Penzance a couple of times, unfortunately I’d never had the opportunity to get off the train at each station. And now I live on the other side of the world! I have to admit that there are most likely errors in my comments, so I’m only too happy when people find them an point them out. In fact, it makes it even more fun because people are building on my little bit of detective work and sharing their own knowledge. Thank you again.

[@BlackAndDeckerBoy]

Awesome

[@kartwheelkarl]

Thanks B&D Boy. Really glad you’re enjoying the collection.

[@TheAudiostud]

Now I know where Penwithers got his inspiration from 👀

[@kartwheelkarl]

Penwithers?

[@gs425]

yes he depicts the whole fell of where i grew up well does kev

[@captainboing]

... Google translate, so you don't have to.