Devon Holiday Post II: PDSR Train Ride...
The Paignton & Dartmouth Steam Railway runs for around 7 miles between the seaside town of Paignton and the riverside village of Kingswear. Operated by 'Dart Rail', the railway runs daily throughout the summer season with steam locomotive's heading the trains. As well as the two terminus', the railway has two intermediate stops: Goodrington (for water park, beach, amusements etc) and Churston (for the bus service to Brixham). Being a once GWR line, the railway operates ex-GWR engine's, the collection currently being made up of 5 Western's (3 of which are in service). There is also however a BR Standard 4-6-0 named "Braveheart" which is currently under overhaul at Churston works. The three working engine's are 42XX 2-8-0 No4277 "Hercules", 52XX 2-8-0 No5239 "Goliath" and BR (W) 4-6-0 No7827 "Lydham Manor", the only PDSR engine which carried her name during her working life. Leaving Paignton, PDSR trains head to Goodrington where a pick-up stop is made. Leaving Goodrington, trains have to tackle the very, very steep Goodrington Bank as passengers enjoy the fantastic scenary. The PDSR surely has to have the best scenary from any carriage window in the country...
After topping the bank trains head to Churston where, on peak day's, an opposite service train is passed. Leaving Churston behind, train's descend through Greenway Tunnel and then down alongside the River Dart into Kingswear. Here, passengers can either return straight away or catch the foot ferry to the lovely, bustling riverside town of Dartmouth. Today we caught the 12:20pm departure from Goodrington to Kingswear where we then admired the quaint "Lydham Manor" which had hauled our 9-coach train on it's journey. The above image show's the cab of the Manor. The regulator and firehole door's can be clearly seen with the red reversing gear to the right. The two gauges on fireman's side (left) are the pressure gauge & steam heat gauge. (This engine doesn't carry a "steam chest" gauge). The hydrostatic lubricator can be seen just the left of the reverser. The gauge in the top right corner is the vacuum gauge with the brass brake lever just below. The single water gauge glass can be seen on the fireman's side of the regulator. 
7827 was built in 1950 but of course never wore the GWR livery that it wears today. The livery is also an inauthetic GWR livery! It was designed by the company for the engine. Thats why none of the other preserved Manor's look like this one! Now for the technical's...the Manor's were designed for heavy work but on line's which couldn't take the weight of larger engine's such as the Hall's and Grange's. A good example of this is the Cambrian Coast line. With a tractive effort of 27, 340 lbs being produced by 18"x30" cylinders, a 225psi boiler, a 22.1ft grate and 5ft 8" driving wheels, the Manor's were substantially powerful. All of this combined with their Blue "D" colour-coded 17 ton axleload made them an ideal choice for the 'restrictive routes'. However, their existance was relatively short lived and "Lydham Manor" only worked for 15 years before being retired in 1965. Back to us...After heading into Dartmouth on the Ferry we had a walk around the quaint shops before returning to Kingswear once again. 7827 was ready in the main platform with the 15:15 departure for Paignton via Churston & Goodrington Sands (where we would alight). On time, 7827 barked out of Kingswear tender-first and up the strong climb into Greenway Tunnel and on to Churston. After Churston, 7827 descended with the regulator mostly closed through the fantastic coastal scenary towards Goodrington.
The Paignton & Dartmouth Steam Railway runs for around 7 miles between the seaside town of Paignton and the riverside village of Kingswear. Operated by 'Dart Rail', the railway runs daily throughout the summer season with steam locomotive's heading the trains. As well as the two terminus', the railway has two intermediate stops: Goodrington (for water park, beach, amusements etc) and Churston (for the bus service to Brixham). Being a once GWR line, the railway operates ex-GWR engine's, the collection currently being made up of 5 Western's (3 of which are in service). There is also however a BR Standard 4-6-0 named "Braveheart" which is currently under overhaul at Churston works. The three working engine's are 42XX 2-8-0 No4277 "Hercules", 52XX 2-8-0 No5239 "Goliath" and BR (W) 4-6-0 No7827 "Lydham Manor", the only PDSR engine which carried her name during her working life. Leaving Paignton, PDSR trains head to Goodrington where a pick-up stop is made. Leaving Goodrington, trains have to tackle the very, very steep Goodrington Bank as passengers enjoy the fantastic scenary. The PDSR surely has to have the best scenary from any carriage window in the country...
After topping the bank trains head to Churston where, on peak day's, an opposite service train is passed. Leaving Churston behind, train's descend through Greenway Tunnel and then down alongside the River Dart into Kingswear. Here, passengers can either return straight away or catch the foot ferry to the lovely, bustling riverside town of Dartmouth. Today we caught the 12:20pm departure from Goodrington to Kingswear where we then admired the quaint "Lydham Manor" which had hauled our 9-coach train on it's journey. The above image show's the cab of the Manor. The regulator and firehole door's can be clearly seen with the red reversing gear to the right. The two gauges on fireman's side (left) are the pressure gauge & steam heat gauge. (This engine doesn't carry a "steam chest" gauge). The hydrostatic lubricator can be seen just the left of the reverser. The gauge in the top right corner is the vacuum gauge with the brass brake lever just below. The single water gauge glass can be seen on the fireman's side of the regulator. 
7827 was built in 1950 but of course never wore the GWR livery that it wears today. The livery is also an inauthetic GWR livery! It was designed by the company for the engine. Thats why none of the other preserved Manor's look like this one! Now for the technical's...the Manor's were designed for heavy work but on line's which couldn't take the weight of larger engine's such as the Hall's and Grange's. A good example of this is the Cambrian Coast line. With a tractive effort of 27, 340 lbs being produced by 18"x30" cylinders, a 225psi boiler, a 22.1ft grate and 5ft 8" driving wheels, the Manor's were substantially powerful. All of this combined with their Blue "D" colour-coded 17 ton axleload made them an ideal choice for the 'restrictive routes'. However, their existance was relatively short lived and "Lydham Manor" only worked for 15 years before being retired in 1965. Back to us...After heading into Dartmouth on the Ferry we had a walk around the quaint shops before returning to Kingswear once again. 7827 was ready in the main platform with the 15:15 departure for Paignton via Churston & Goodrington Sands (where we would alight). On time, 7827 barked out of Kingswear tender-first and up the strong climb into Greenway Tunnel and on to Churston. After Churston, 7827 descended with the regulator mostly closed through the fantastic coastal scenary towards Goodrington.
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