Steam Railmotor 93 on the Looe Branch Shuttles 11-11-12

Having been based at the Bodmin and Wenford Railway for the past few weeks, Steam Railmotor 93 was moved to Liskeard, to haul 5 trips along the picturesque Looe Branch Line. This was the first time that a Railmotor had been seen on the main line for 77 years. Because of this, I decided to make a visit down to Cornwall to capture this unique sight.

Considering the engine has no TPWS, AWS or OTMR (and has a wooden frame), I was pleased to capture this 'never-to-be-repeated' series of excursions. Unfortunately, because of the odd design of the Railmotor, the engine frequently stopped due to low pressure in the boiler - the issues being that the boiler pivots on the motor axle and that as soon as the firebox doors were opened, cold air came into the firebox and affected the pressure in the boiler. This, however, meant we could frequently leap frog the Railmotor, and capture more than one shot per run.

The shots featured in this film are taken at:

Liskeard (I combined the 10:30 and 12:30 departures to create a full departure shot)
Looe
St Keyne Wishing Well Halt
Lodge Barton (x2)
Coombe Junction Ground Frame
Causeland
West North Cottage
Sandplace (pacing sequence of sorts - the trees and twisty road meant I couldn't capture a full sequence. This, combined with the fact that the 15:20 from Looe departed nearly 15 minutes early(!), meant that I couldn't go to Terras Crossing, a location that I wanted to go to but sadly couldn't). *
The Meet, near Causeland

*I have uploaded a second film from this day, an extended pacing shot around Sandplace. Starting at Terras Crossing, we follow the Railmotor as far as Sandplace. The link is here:    • Steam Railmotor 93 on the Looe Branch Shut...  

Because the 5th run was in the dark, I didn't bother to stay in Cornwall, and instead went home.

Thanks to everyone involved in the running of this tour - it was a great day out and I thoroughly enjoyed my first visit to Cornwall. I will be back...

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