STEAM RAILWAY
the occasion. Unfortunately, the cake proved too popular for its own good. Worried they would miss out on sampling the enormous dessert, and no doubt emboldened by free cider, the diners armed themselves with whatever came to hand and marched on the 5 helpless policeman guarding the cake. The riots raged until barely a morsel was left. Truly a day to remember! From Paignton, Seale Hayne’s original plans had hoped to take the line across the River Dart by a bridge at Greenway and directly into Dartmouth. However, the Admiralty and the local landowners at Green- way blocked the route. Seale Hayne was reluctantly forced to redirect the line all the way to Kingswear. If the original plans had been successful, it’s interesting to think how differently the local area would have developed. Would Dart Marina have instead been a site for warehouses and rail sidings? Would the BRNC have been built? Would Kingswear have suffered without the huge influx of passengers? This is pure speculation as obvi-
ously the line DID come to King- swear. The station opened on August 16th 1864 during Regatta Week to fanfare and widespread praise. The station itself has seen many changes since its launch all those years ago, initially being built with a timber roof at the southern end. The “trainshed” itself is one of three remaining in the UK – the stations at Frome in Somerset and Ashbur- ton in Devon house the others. The station buildings at Churston are
also the original ones from 1862. For Seale Hayne, the road to com- pleting the line had been marred by both financial strain and political outrage. In the same year as the infamous ‘Paignton Pudding riots’, he had been supposed to stand as the Liberal Party candidate for the area, but stood aside for a gentle- man called Schenley – after Schenley promised to invest £3,000 in the railway company. He was later found to have spent £1,400 - £60,000 today – on buying votes. Although Seale Hayne himself had no part in this chicanery, his name was irre- versibly linked with the scandal. The first few years of the new
Seale Hayne’s original plans had hoped to take the line across the River Dart by a bridge at Greenway
railway proved testing, despite the flood of passengers it brought into Dartmouth. Seale Hayne bought and renovated the ‘Plume of Feathers’ pub and created the Royal Dart Ho- tel, which is still in existence today, to make the most of the customers arriving at its doors from the train. Besides carrying passengers,
the railway took on a number of different roles that proved to be of great importance for the area and indeed the country. Jetties were constructed next to the Kingswear station in 1868 to enable coal to be transferred from the boats to the Torquay gas works.
This was the beginning of a system that continued until 1963. Seale Hayne’s line was also used during the preparations for the D-Day landings at Slapton Sands, bringing supplies out to the troops as they practiced their manoeuvres. Despite all efforts, it was clear by 1876 that the line was losing money. As a result, it was integrated into the Great Western Railway, along with most other branch lines in the South West – an amalgamation that heralded the move away from Brunel’s ‘Broad Guage’ tracks (7ft 1/4 inches wide) to the increas- ingly popular ‘Standard Guage’ (4ft 8½inches). 1908 saw the line linked all the
way to London, a connection many acknowledged as being crucial to the prosperity of Dartmouth and its surrounding villages. However, in 1948 the railways
were nationalised and in 1970 the planned closure of the Kingswear Branch line was announced to the public. Fortunately for everyone, Dart
Valley Railway – a company hugely enthusiastic about the continuation of the line and already in possession of the Totnes to Buckfastleigh line – acquired the Kingswear to Paignton link.
Under the ownership of Dart Photo by Nick Shepherd
www.southdevonphotos.co.uk
Valley Railway – which, together with the South Devon Railway, has grown to become the Dartmouth Steam Railway and River Boat Co. – the Kingswear station has been restored to its former splendour. The company has since added a new halt at the nearest possible point to Greenway. Set just north of the Greenway Tunnel, the halt allows passengers to visit Agatha Christie’s famous house and grounds via a beautiful woodland walk. After all the hard work, financial ruin and political upset, it would surely be gratifying for Seale Hayne to know that his early endeavour has flourished into one of the most successful heritage railway lines in the country and continues to be a centre-piece of the Dartmouth landscape after 150 years. •
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