Devon Belle
Encyclopedia
The Devon Belle was a luxury express passenger train in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 which ran between London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 Waterloo station
Waterloo station
Waterloo station, also known as London Waterloo, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex. The station is owned and operated by Network Rail and is close to the South Bank of the River Thames, and in Travelcard Zone 1....

 and Ilfracombe
Ilfracombe
Ilfracombe is a seaside resort and civil parish on the North Devon coast, England with a small harbour, surrounded by cliffs.The parish stretches along the coast from 'The Coastguard Cottages' in Hele Bay toward the east and 4 miles along The Torrs to Lee Bay toward the west...

 and Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

 in Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

 in the years from 1947 to 1954.

The train

The Southern Railway
Southern Railway (Great Britain)
The Southern Railway was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent...

 was anxious to encourage the resumption of normal leisure activities after the war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 years, and it commenced operation of the train on 20 June 1947. It set high standards for comfort and luxury, and it was made up entirely of Pullman
Pullman train (UK)
Pullman trains in Great Britain were mainline luxury railway services that operated with first-class coaches and a steward service, provided by the British Pullman Car Company.-Origins:...

 coaches. Two unusual features of the train were that all seats were reservable (not a common facility at the time) and the Observation car
Observation car
An observation car/carriage/coach is a type of railroad passenger car, generally operated in a passenger train as the last carriage, with windows on the rear of the car for passengers' viewing pleasure...

, attached at the rear for the benefit of passengers to and from Ilfracombe.

The Southern Railway was especially adept at publicity, and both the westbound and eastbound trains started their journey at mid-day, and uniquely the train ran non-stop between London and Sidmouth Junction, a distance of 160 miles. The throughout journey time was about five and a half hours.

At this time all other trains on the Southern Railway's West of England main line stopped at Salisbury
Salisbury railway station
Salisbury is a railway station serving the city of Salisbury, Wiltshire. Located southwest of London Waterloo, the station is the crossing point of the West of England Main Line and the Wessex Main Line...

 for water and to trim the tender coal, as the Southern Railway did not have water troughs. To enable the non-stop run, the train made an unadvertised stop at Wilton
Wilton South railway station
Wilton South railway station is a disused railway station which formerly served Wilton in Wiltshire, England. It was situated on the West of England Main Line from London Waterloo station to Exeter and close to the Great Western Railway’s Wilton station on its Salisbury branch from .It was opened...

, a small station two miles west of Salisbury, for an engine change.

The train headboards had a red background unlike the customary green nameboard backgrounds on Southern Railway express trains. Three boards were used: one on the locomotive's buffer beam, and one on each side of its smokebox
Smokebox
A smokebox is one of the major basic parts of a Steam locomotive exhaust system. Smoke and hot gases pass from the firebox through tubes where they pass heat to the surrounding water in the boiler. The smoke then enters the smokebox, and is exhausted to the atmosphere through the chimney .To assist...

, mounted on the smoke deflectors
Smoke deflectors
Smoke deflectors are vertical plates attached to the front of a steam locomotive on each side of the smokebox. They are designed to lift smoke away from the locomotive at speed so that the driver has better visibility unimpaired by drifting smoke....

.

Following the war, Britain was in a state of economic austerity for several years, and a luxury train service involving a supplementary fare was a difficult concept to sell. Despite initial popularity, the train was not as much of a success as hoped, and the Plymouth portion was dropped in September 1949. Services were further reduced in 1952 and withdrawn entirely at the end of the 1954 summer season.

Traction and Rolling Stock

Usually the train was hauled by a Merchant Navy class 'Bulleid Pacific' locomotive between Waterloo and Exeter Central, with Light Pacific
SR West Country Class
The SR West Country and Battle of Britain classes, collectively known as Light Pacifics or informally as Spam Cans, are classes of air-smoothed 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive designed for the Southern Railway by its Chief Mechanical Engineer Oliver Bulleid...

 locomotives handling the train west of that point. The normal formation was for four carriages to form the Plymouth portion, and eight to form the Ilfracombe portion, although longer trains were sometimes needed. The use of powerful locomotives was essential on the Ilfracombe Branch
Ilfracombe Branch Line
The Ilfracombe Branch of the London & South Western Railway , ran between Barnstaple and Ilfracombe in North Devon. The branch opened as a single-track line in 1874, but was sufficiently popular that it needed to be upgraded to double-track in 1889....

, due to the very steep gradients and sharp curves on that section of line. For the eastbound departure from Ilfracombe, it was usually necessary for assistance to be provided by a bank engine
Bank engine
A bank engine or helper engine or pusher engine is a railway locomotive that temporarily assists a train that requires additional power or traction to climb a grade...

 for the 1 in 36 climb from the terminus to Mortehoe & Woolacombe station
Mortehoe and Woolacombe railway station
Mortehoe and Woolacombe railway station was a station on the London and South Western Railway Ilfracombe Branch Line between Barnstaple and Ilfracombe in North Devon, England .-History:...

.

The Observation Cars

Two distinctive observation car
Observation car
An observation car/carriage/coach is a type of railroad passenger car, generally operated in a passenger train as the last carriage, with windows on the rear of the car for passengers' viewing pleasure...

s were used on the service. They were numbered 13 and 14, and both had started life as other vehicles. No. 14 was an LNWR
London and North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...

 ambulance coach of 1918 that was converted into a Pullman car in 1921. It was rebuilt as a Bar car in 1937.

Both carriages were remodelled as observation cars in 1947, especially for the Devon Belle service. They had seating for 27 passengers, and a bar for a drinks service. This latter work was undertaken at Pullman's Preston Park works, Brighton.

The observation cars were 'single-ended', due to the large windows that allowed passengers to see out from the back of the train. The carriages therefore had to be turned on the turntable
Turntable (railroad)
A railway turntable is a device for turning railroad rolling stock. When steam locomotives were still in wide use, many railroads needed a way to turn the locomotives around for return trips as their controls were often not configured for extended periods of running in reverse and in many...

 at the end of each journey for the return journey. This could be a difficult operation at Ilfracombe station, as the site was exposed to the winds from the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

.

After use on the Devon Belle the cars were transferred to the London Midland Region, repainted and renumbered 280 and 281, curiously with an 'M' suffix, despite their origins. M280M (ex 13) was used for a couple of seasons on 'The Welsh Chieftain' Land Cruise train in north Wales and M281M (ex 14) on charter services. In 1961 the cars were transferred to the Scottish Region for use on the lines between Inverness and the Kyle of Lochalsh, and from Glasgow to Oban.

Preservation

Both observation cars have been preserved in England and are still in revenue-earning service: No.13 is working on the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway
Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway
The Paignton & Dartmouth Steam Railway is a heritage railway on the former Kingswear branch line between Paignton and Kingswear in Torbay, Devon, England....

, in south Devon; while No.14 is now at the Swanage Railway
Swanage Railway
The Swanage Railway is a long heritage railway in the Purbeck district of Dorset, England. The railway follows the route of the Purbeck branch line between Norden railway station, Corfe Castle railway station, Harman's Cross railway station, Herston Halt railway station and Swanage...

 in Dorset, after a lengthy sojourn in North America.

No. 14 went to the USA in 1969 for a tour accompanying the Flying Scotsman
LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman
The LNER Class A3 Pacific locomotive No. 4472 Flying Scotsman was built in 1923 for the London and North Eastern Railway at Doncaster Works to a design of H.N. Gresley...

. Due to financial difficulties, the carriage could not be shipped home immediately, and it remained in America and was attached to an office building in San Francisco. No. 14 was removed from the site on 13 January 2007 for return to the UK and use on the Swanage Railway.

No. 14 arrived in the UK at Southampton Docks on 26 February 2007, having travelled by ship via the Panama Canal, and was then immediately transported by road to Ramparts railway workshops at Derby where restoration work was carried out, including the refitting of the classic interior and bar. It returned to the Swanage Railway on 16 May 2008 and was officially re-launched into service on 16 July 2008.

Sample timetable

In the summer of 1950 the westbound train left Waterloo at 12:00, and called at Sidmouth Junction (15:16), Exeter Central (15:35 - 15:40), Exeter St Davids (15:46), Barnstaple Junction (15:43), Barnstaple Town, Braunton, Mortehoe and arrived at Ilfracombe at 17:27.

The eastbound train left Ilfracombe at 12:00, calling at Mortehoe, Braunton, Barnstaple Town, Barnstaple Junction (12:37), Exeter St Davids (13:33), Exeter Central (13:38 - 13:42), Sidmouth Junction (14:04) and arrived at Waterloo at 17:20.
(The journey time Waterloo to Exeter St Davids was 15 minutes longer than the Atlantic Coast Express
Atlantic Coast Express
The Atlantic Coast Express was an express passenger train in England between Waterloo station, London and seaside resorts in the south-west...

required, stopping only at Salisbury.)

The train ran on Mondays, Tuesdays (eastbound), Thursdays (westbound), Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in the summer of 1950. Unusually, the advertised schedules were identical every day of the week on which the train ran.

External links

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