Dartmouth Steam Railway General Discusssion

Very enjoyable video clips. Thank you for sharing, Hemerdon, especially the departure Greenway Halt, you can't beat a "Barking" Manor.

 

4277 Hercules maintaining the service today. Trains very well loaded this week with eleven coaches needed for late afternoon service from Kingswear.

Another new feature for 2015 is the Greenway 'Bus' shuttle.
Formerly a Leyland PS1 (once Eay Yorkshire I believe) provided a service from the nearby Park and Ride to Greenway House - which has very limited car parking.
The railway now provided this service which runs from Churston Station to Greenway House. The fare is free if in possession of a valid rail ticket but for a casual traveller it is £3.50 return. This is a most welcome addition to the railways operations especially for those not wishing to walk the public road to Greenway House or Greenway Ferry.

 

Today is the first day of Orange Timetable with 7827 and 4277 hauling services, summer is definitely on the way!

Remember on Sunday (31st) the Devon Diesel Society are doing a running day with class 25 D7535 on three round trips with a fourth trip being hauled by 03s D2192 & D2371. This is as well as the standard green timetable service. The DDS are also running the 25 on the SDR on Saturday to make a full diesel weekend in Devon.

7820 Dinmore Manor should arrive on the railway during the second week of June and will be taking on summer services along with fellow black manor 7827 as well as 4277 & 5239.

More detail to come about the Beer Festival in July (17-19th) so I will update with more detail when I have it. But all current detail is on the website. http://www.dartmouthrailriver.co.uk/days-out/beer-festival

 

How likely is it both Manors will be working for this, and roughly what sort of timetable do your run (2-trains / evening service)?

 

The information so far is: Orange timetable service (every 45mins during the day) with evening trains to get passengers to/from the beer festival at Kingswear. Finalised timetable to be announced.

7820 will be in attendance during the event but unsure what the loco roster is at the moment and how many engines will be working during the weekend. I'll update once I know what is going on and if 7820 will be running.

 

I am hoping that is the case.

 

The website only mention return tickets, are rover tickets available ?

 

I'm just weighing up whether it's worth taking a punt booking trains / hotels as coming from Preston it's not something I can decide on the day...

 

Any idea how late the evening service could run till? This is getting more tempting...

 

The DSR offers Buffer Tickets (rovers) for around £20-£25 on normal services. There maybe a special rover during the festival but unsure yet.

Last year, the latest train was 23:00 departure of Kingswear with D7535. Again not sure on this years timetable at the moment.

 

That'll do me! Now to see what accomodation is available...

 

I have already booked a hotel for a couple of nights in Dartmouth. I only travelled on the line on main charters in the last 10 years and wanted to travel behind a Manor on the line.

 

Thanks for that.

 

Actually one final question, does the railway itself serve any ales onboard, or is there only the festival tent?

 

I can recommend the Bronte Hotel B&B in Paignton, near Preston sands, stayed there for the same event last year, nice enough owners and the room we had was great, very clean and modern (was painted white not some dodgy green wallpaper!). Didn't sample breakfast though. Had a good price for a Fri/Sat night stay in the middle of August too.

 

There was a rover on offer for £25 last year which is a very good price considering it's £15 return to Dartmouth, however the rover does not include the ferry. The last steam service was 1645 from Paignton & 1725 from Kingswear last year with D7535 offering three services later which as you have said concluded with the 2300 from Kingswear (1730, 1930 & 2100 off Paignton.... 1815, 2015 & 2300 from Kingswear).

 

No on-board catering of any kind on the P&D regular service trains.

 

Cheers for the help. Shame they don't put a few kegs in their BSK as sure they'd be able to sell it.

 

7820 Dinmore Manor is expected to arrive by road to the railway on the 18th June.

 

Good day on the railway today. 11 carriages on the first train of the day.