Dawlish 50 021 10.9.1984
Dawlish 47 353 10.9.1984
Dawlish 10.9.1984
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Dawlish Warren 10.9.1984
31.8.2014
Dawlish Warren 10.9.1984
I took my first ever railway photo (indeed photo of any kind!) at Dawlish
Warren on 9 July 1971. We were staying at Warren Sands campsite just along the way and the railway was an inevitable draw to a 14 year old with the beginnings of an interest in railways. I've been back a few times since on day trips, but got to spend a whole week there last week.
The line has been in the news recently and it certainly has an atmosphere of being in the front line in the coming 'war' against us and climate change. There are now strong moves to get a diversionary route or two in place in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the disgrace of last winter's inevitable six week closure.
I think we all need to visit this line as much as we can and record it in all its moods. It's now probably the only railway in the UK that may close in the future. That would be a tragedy.
We're planning to buy a caravan in Dawlish Warren (safely up on high ground and well away from any cliff edges of course) in 2016. My plan is to visit regularly and record the last decades of this line.
My first railway interest was stirred by the Gothic remains of recently closed railways in Sussex - Fittleworth, Bramber, Lavant. And then I got deeper in, visiting the Selsey Tramway and others. Holidays took me further afield and I got to see lines in their last years - Kingswear, Okehampton, Yarmouth to Lowestoft. Dawlish was an eye-opener, an interesting (and open!) main line! Of course in the 70s it was Westerns and Peaks and class 47s, with first generation DMUs filling the gaps, plenty of freight etc. There were even still semaphore signals, and the line was haunted by the recent passing of steam, exemplified by the postcards being sold at Dawlish Warren, many of them featuring classic steam on the sea wall.
Steam has now returned of course, and we got to see the double headed Atlantic Coast Express on the sea wall. Most of the rest of the trains seemed rather dull with the occasional HST adding a touch of flair and history, and an image of the future, amongst the Voyagers and modern DMUs.
So expect a lot more from me on this stunning line over the coming years (and the next few days).
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