GWR 14XX 0-4-2T 1442 TIVVY BUMPER celebrates 90th BIRTHDAY at the Tiverton Museum of Mid Devon Life!

Coverage from a visit to the delightful Tiverton Museum Of Mid Devon Life today, in conjunction with their ‘Railway Day’, in celebration of the 90th Birthday of their resident GWR 14XX 1442! They had model railways, railwayana displays, interactive exhibits, butter making and lots of other fun family activities to get us inspired, discovering the history of the former Exe Valley railway line, and exploring the Tardis of artefacts and history on display.

GWR 14XX 1442 was built at Swindon in April 1935 and withdrawn from Exmouth shed in May 1965, and is one of four surviving 14XX examples in preservation.

1442 was based between Marlow and Slough between 1948 and 1950 before moving to Oxford where it stayed until 1953 when it moved again to Reading. Its stay at Reading only lasted three months after which it returned to Oxford later in 1953 where it was based for nearly nine years.

In 1962 1442 was transferred to Westbury for a month before moving on to Exeter and then Yeovil Town a year later in October 1963.

By December 1963 it was at Taunton but returned to Yeovil Town in October 1964 before moving to its final base of Exmouth Junction in February 1965.

1442 spent its last years working between Tiverton and Tiverton Junction station at Willand where it affectionately became known to the locals as ‘Tivvy Bumper’.

It was originally displayed outside at Tiverton following being purchased by Viscount Amory in 1965 on a plinth close to the former GWR Goods shed on Blundell’s Road, and was moved through the town to a purpose built museum in 1978, where it still resides to this day, as pride of place inside the museum!

Following the visit to the Museum, we headed to have a look at the site of Bickleigh Mill and the Devon Railway Centre & Model World, currently closed until April this year, but set around the former Cadeleigh railway station on the closed Great Western Railway branch from Exeter to Dulverton.

Our last shot shows the entrance to Travis Perkins on Blundells Road, by the site of the former Tiverton railway station. The old trackbed now forms part of the Great Western Way road, but this would have been where the line would have continued from the Exe Valley to what used to be Tiverton Junction station. The Exe Valley line closed in 1963 and passenger services were withdrawn from the original line from Tiverton Junction just a year later, with goods facilities closing in 1967.

Tiverton Junction was replaced by Tiverton Parkway station slightly further north. The site of the former Tiverton Junction is now Tiverton Loop, where steam rail tours occasionally water between tours to the South West. What a picturesque line this would have been had it survived into preservation today! Lots of great history and certainly more waiting to be discovered in this area in the future... | 25.01.2025

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