Picture the scene. The Atlantic Coast express or ACE has arrived from London, Waterloo, the crack train on the old south western system. It had raced to Salisbury behind a Merchant Navy Class engine which was rapidly changed for another, with a full tank of water for the up and down journey to Exeter. Here, the train split because the ACE served a variety of destinations with one part heading off possibly with a West Country class loco for Halwill Junction.
Where? Wheres Halwill Junction? The answer is that it is just in Devon and not Cornwall. So in arriving at the place we were on our way home. Halwill Junction was about a mile from the little village of Halwill and the place was built to serve the needs of trains like the ACE. For when the ACE arrived, it was split into three parts. One part headed off near where we had been staying, en route for Padstow. Another bit went to Bude and a third to Bideford. This, of course, was in the days of steam so each bit of train needed an engine with driver and fireman. Shunters were needed to couple and uncouple. Each train needed a guard. Signals needed operating so signalmen were required. The station needed staff as well so a new place called Halwill Junction developed to look after the needs of the staff and families.
But of course, trains like the ACE were few and far between so for long periods Halwill Junction was a sleepy backwater but still with all the staff to pay and the infrastructure to maintain. So no wonder that the infamous Dr Beeching decided, in the 1960s, that this whole section of line was uneconomic and needed to go. Old keenies like me might regret the loss of the railway, but perhaps sense prevailed and I was amused to see a new housing estate on old railway land had the name Beeching Close.
This part of the estate, though, was called stationfield.
Despite there being no railway at all, the area is still called Halwill Junction. Here, some of the station site has become a park.
The pub retains its railway name of The Junction Inn
I have to say that the ancient loco on the sign looks wholly inappropriate for this part of the world.
The station area this part is a car park with the line to Exeter curling away through the shrubs towards Exeter, Salisbury and Waterloo. There are still railway relics about. This is a gradient post railway companies recorded everything and the steepness of slopes was always marked on the lineside.
Visiting Halwill Junction was a railway pilgrimage for me but it was still a little early for coffee so we drove a bit further and stopped at Clannaborough Barton.
Well, we found a seat and enjoyed our flask coffee, but the very chill wind was biting so we took a quick look at the ancient slabs on the church floor
and then moved on.