Great Western Railway and CrossCountry Trains at Plymouth on September 9th 2023

3rd visit to Plymouth station on the South Devon Main Line, Cornish Main Line and the terminus of the Tamar Valley Line from Gunnislake

Featuring services from Great Western Railway and CrossCountry Trains plus also a guest appearance of the Cornish Riviera Statesman hauled by Two Class 47s from Shrewsbury

Plymouth opened as Plymouth North Road by the former Great Western Railway and the London & South Western Railway although the North Road suffix was dropped on September 15th 1958 the same day when a former LSWR station Friary closed

The station had been rebuilt several times firstly in 1908 and was due to be rebuilt again in 1938 however due to World War II and was delayed until 1956 however wasn't completed until 1962 which includes the office building Intercity House which is still retained today.

There are 8 Platforms in total with 7 through platforms although 2 of got converted in 1974 into Bay Platforms

Platform 1 at the rear next to Platform 4 is nowadays rarely used.

Whilst Platform 3 is used by 2 hourly services to and from Gunnislake via the Tamar Valley Line which is operated by Class 150s

Great Western Railway services whether it's local stoppers to and from Penzance or Exeter St Davids as well as London Paddington do terminate here mostly via Platforms 5, 6 or 7 and sometimes Platform 8.

Long distance services to and from London Paddington are extended beyond to Penzance via the Cornish Main Line which is nowadays provided by Class 800 and 802 IETs which also provide services to and from Cardiff Central which the latter can be operated by Class 150s or 158 Sprinters

The Castle HSTs at the time of filming were being phrased out gradually with only 4 sets due to be retained after December 2023 for mainly Plymouth to Penzance and occasional Exeter services.

CrossCountry services from Leeds, York and Edinburgh via Newcastle mostly terminate at Plymouth although only 2 trains a day go to Penzance.

The Class 43 HST on XC was in in it's last days of operation which were withdrawn 9 days after filming on September 18th and it's final farewell tour taking place on September 26th.

As for the Cornish Main Line the present semaphore signalling is gradually being phrased out which was still ongoing with completion due sometime in Summer 2024.

When completed it will be under the control of Plymouth new Signal Box which also controls the line for Gunnislake as far as St Budeaux Victoria Road

From there the rest of the route via Bere Alston is token control to Gunnislake

In recent months plans to reinstate the line from Bere Alston to Tavistock have been boosted by funds from the Department of Transports Restore your Railway fund as part of a scheme to reverse the Beeching Cuts.

It aims to follow a similar reinstatement to Okehampton services which was reinstated in November 2021.

Whilst times are changing and some eras are ending however even on a hot summers day even with disruption the station itself of Plymouth can be hard to predict how busy it can be.

Music used:
JJD - Adventure
Music provided by NCS

Video link:
NoCopyrightSounds
   • JJD - Adventure | Glitch Hop | NCS - Copyr...  

Filmed on Saturday September 9th 2023 on iPhone 14 Pro and edited on IMovie

#greatwesternrailway #gwr #crosscountry #crosscountrytrains #class43 #class800 #class802 #class221 #class150 #class158 #class47 #plymouth #plymouthstation #devon