Great Western Railway and CrossCountry Trains at Newton Abbot on August 1st 2020

1st video on my return on the train since March 11th before Lockdown and it's my 3rd visit to Newton Abbot.

During all filming followed Social distancing rules and wore a face covering

Newton Abbot first opened as Newton on December 30th 1846 when the South Devon Railway was extended from a temporary terminus at Teignmouth.

It was renamed in 1877 to Newton Abbot. The station was rebuilt in 1927 which is situated not far from nearby Newton Abbot Racecourse.

At one time there was a junction with the Moretonhampstead Line which originally opened by the Moretonhampstead and South Devon Railway on June 26th 1866.

However closed to passenger services on February 28th 1959, goods services were cut back to Bovey on April 6th 1964 then Heathfield on July 6th 1970 before closing for good in 1996.

The station originally had 4 platforms however was scaled down to 3 when Platform 4 was removed on April 24th 1987 which allowed a level entrance to be opened up along with the car park being extended. Resignalling to enable trains for Paignton to branch off onto Platform 1 to enable sometimes passing services to overtake via Platform 2 and 3. Resignalling was completed 11 days later on May 5th which is controlled from Exeter Signal Box.

At one time South West Trains use to run a limited service from Waterloo to Paignton however after a timetable change in December 2009 all of their diesel services now run by South Western Railway was cutback to Exeter St Davids.

Most Paignton services can use either Platform 1 or 2 with return services using either Platform 1 or 3.

The former Engine shed located to the north end of the station closed in 1893.

The works sheds continued operation even during the transfer to diesel in 1962 although closed in 1970. Servicing facilities continued until 1981 when a new depot at Laira took over.

Today an industrial estate is built on site even though the Diesel Repair sheds survived intact after closure however unfortunately on October 19th 2018 when a few weeks before they were due to be demolished one caught fire which turned to be cause by Arson which were to become a site for a Aldi Supermarket.

For many years Newton Abbot was a open station after the original ticket barriers were removed however Ticket Barriers were re-installed in August 2017.

At the time of filming both due to Cov19 capacity on trains was limited and a timetable on both Great Western Railway and CrossCountry Trains running reduced services.

Music used:
JJD - Adventure
Music provided by NCS

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

Filmed on Saturday August 1st 2020 on iPhone 11 and edited on iMovie