REASON FOR CLOSING ST BLAZEY… HAZY

DB Cargo has placed Cornwall’s historic St Blazey depot at Par off-limits. Or so it seems – because as yet there’s no official answer to my questions as to why.

However, one organisation that can’t afford to wait is the Railway Touring Company. With the start of its Bristol-Par ‘Royal Duchy’ season imminent, a back-up plan has been brought out: steam is to run Bristol-Plymouth in the ‘Down’ direction, with steam coming off there to be serviced and turned.

A diesel then takes over for the 35-plus miles on to Par – leaving the ‘real’ motive power to follow to take over for the return leg. RTC managing director Kelly Osborne says the intention is for the modern traction substitute to be detached, to keep the steam legs ‘pure’.

She also tells me the reason given against St Blazey’s use is “health and safety” – SR understands the issue is to do with the condition of the track.

It’s not the first time there’s been an issue with using St Blazey (see SR430) – and RTC hasn’t given up on a return in future. Discussions, Kelly says, are under way “to hopefully have this resolved”.

Opened in 1874, the engine shed at St Blazey is Grade II* listed – but the part-roundhouse itself has been in non-railway use for years and the depot’s glory days are now long past; indeed, it appears on English Heritage’s ‘Heritage at Risk’ register.

RTC’s trains are not the only trips to be affected – Pathfinder’s ‘Summer Cornishman’ with Tornado on June 23 (see also separate story) saw the whole train shuttle from Par to Plymouth and back in the layover, rather than use the former Cornwall Minerals Railway and GWR facility.

The first of the Summer Sundays ‘Duchy’ trains of 2019 was to run on July 21; the trains are down for a mix of either Duchess of Sutherland or Union of South Africa.