Railway closed in Devon , England

For the first time dine the severe storms of 2014 , the line between Exeter and Newton Abbot is closed .
I hope it is open by Tuesday , when I next need to use the route to Cornwall .
It is a wonderfully scenic line that hugs the . coast

It is the only route into Cornwall .
The second , more direct route was closed in the 1960,s.

When an storm closes the line there are calls to reopen the second route.
That would require the Meldon viaduct to be rebuilt at huge coast .

The old route has been built over in places and a huge number of people own land on the site of the old line .
Quite simply it is not going to happen .

We have an excellent rail maintenance company Network Rail aka The British Goverment . Insure the line will soon be re opened .

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gandalf1957 · 61-69, M

With the benefit of hindsight the Beeching cuts and subsequent land sell offs were short sighted`. My late father said that at the time (1960s) and kept on saying it.

I guess the cost of maintaining the Meldon viaduct was one reason why that line was closed?

devonman · 61-69, M

@gandalf1957 Opinions vary . When the BR region were created there was still
rivalry between Paddington ( GWR! )
and Waterloo ( SR)
A drcision was taken by BR not to maintain the Viaduct and to close the old Southern Raiilway route to Plymouth and Cornwall , the line terminating at Exeter . As you say a big mistake .

yunnaf · 70-79, M

"We have an excellent rail maintenance company Network Rail" On the educational TV networks they often run BBC documentaries on the history of the steam engine and the impact of railroads to the industrial revolution. The skill of the engineers and the cunning of business men to devise rail routes. It took quite the pool of brilliant and resourceful talent to propel Britain to become an Empire, for example the Meldon viaduct. It's odd that, that a distinguished national heritage unfolds to a questionable train departure on Tuesday.

devonman · 61-69, M

@yunnaf The excellence of the engineering team working at Dawlish has once again overcome the challenges thrown ulp by nature and the line is one e again running along the coast of Devon. .

Thinkingdeeper · 36-40, M

I saw some of the pictures. Visually looks not as bad as 2014 but still quite a bit of work to reinstate the line.

devonman · 61-69, M

@Thinkingdeeper I’ll keep up with the updates . Definitely not as bad as 2014.

emmasfriend · 46-50, F

Dawlish again !

devonman · 61-69, M

@emmasfriend Not as bad as last time .

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