OLD DEVONPORT . UK
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RAILWAYS IN OLD DEVONPORT  |  BRITISH RAILWAYS

SALTASH SUBURBAN SERVICE

The Great Western Railway Company had begun the Saltash Suburban Service on Wednesday June 1st 1904 and this was, of course, taken over by British Railways Western Region upon nationalisation of the British railway network as from Thursday January 1st 1948.

Carriage W5W with W6W at the rear.
© J E Cull.

Working the the Plymouth area in 1954 were auto trailers W5W and W6W, pictured above.  They were completed on April 1st 1905 to GWR diagram B, Lot number 1081 and were both 70 feet long by 9 feet wide.  They were rebuilt circa 1911, number 5 to Diagram W, and given a corridor connection and seating 76; number 6 to Diagram V, but without a corridor connection.

Sunday June 12th 1960 was the last day of steam operation.  The last train ran as empty stock to Saltash and returned into platform 6 at North Road Plymouth Station at 10.30pm.  The Guard, who was the longest serving man on the service, was Mr Arthur Cook of 24 Ladysmith Road.  The second Guard was Mr Philip Mumford of 257 Old Laira Road.  The two Drivers on the service were Mr Bill May, aged 63, and Mr David Lavers, of Pennycross.  One  of the last locomotives used on the service was number 6421.

From the start of the summer timetable on Monday June 13th 1960 the service was operated by diesel multiple units (DMUs) except for those trains that ran through to Tavistock, the 12.40pm North Road Plymouth Station to Saltash Station and the 1.25pm from Saltash Station to Tavistock South Station.  Likewise, the 4.30pm from Tavistock South Station formed the 5.23pm North Road to Doublebois Station and remained steam worked.  The first DMU was driven by Mr Reg Beal of Laira.

At a press conference in April 1962 Mr F G Dean, the Plymouth District Traffic Superintendent, stated that between October 1960 and February1961 226,000 tickets had been issued at Saltash Station for Plymouth but following the opening of the Tamar Road Bridge the figures for October 1961 to February 1962 was 181,000, some 45,000 fewer.  Interestingly, he also stated that 'The service did not pay before the bridge was opened'.  As a result the weekday service was going to be reorganised on and from June 18th 1962 but the only train that would be cut was the last one of the day, the 11.15pm from Plymouth.  That one returned empty stock to Laira so was not very revenue earning.  However the Sunday service was to be slashed as from Sunday June 24th 1962 with a reduction of fourteen trains from Plymouth to Saltash and thirteen in the other direction.  The Western National Omnibus Company Limited would be putting on extra buses to compensate.

The final steam hauled auto train workings in the Plymouth district were the 12.40pm Plymouth to Saltash and 1.25pm Saltash to Tavistock on Friday December 28th 1962, covered by locomotive number 6438, and the 7.40am Plymouth to Tavistock South and 8.45am return on Saturday December 29th 1962, for which 6400 supplied the power.