This time we caught the 0905 London Bridge train and then Jubilee and Bakerloo lines to ensure we arrived at out booked time for the 1035 train to Exeter St Davids.
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| Tickets from Paddington to Tiverton Parkway |
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| Our train 4th from left of display at Paddington |
This train was slow to be called but we were off on time stopping at Reading, Newbury, Hungerford, Pewsey, Westbury and Castle Cary before reaching Taunton on time and finally alighting just before 1300 at Tiverton Parkway station. There is an hourly bus service, the No 373, from this station to Tiverton and rather surprisingly given its name it is six miles away from the town. The next bus was at 1327 so we were able to have an inexpensive pasty and sausage roll along with hot drinks-there hadn't been any hot drinks on the train.
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| Tiverton Parkway station |
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| The No 373 arriving |
Stagecoach double decker 10691 which took us through some lovely East Devon scenery on a fairly bright day with much more sunshine than recently at home. We arrived at Tiverton bus station at 1400 and although there was no timetable up for the bus there was a blind arrangement giving the next departures in order. The next No 348 was at 1415, so I took Charmaine up to the High Street and let her loose whilst I headed back to the bus station.
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The road from the station to Tiverton
is not very wide in places |
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| Stagecoach 47089, now twenty years old at Tiverton bus station |
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Reflection makes it impossible to read
this is the No 348 service
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| A slightly clearer view of the number on the side |
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| No 348 bus ticket |
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| Bus display system at Tiverton bus station |
The No 348 is a town bus service using an Optare Solo and I boarded Stagecoach 48007 at 1411. The driver asked where I was going and I said all the way, which would be a bit strange because I would return to where I started from. But with a little
explanation of what I was doing I was given a ticket for £1.50 and we departed at 1415. The bus turned left onto the bypass and next left into Station Road which did not have much left of the original station but I presumed the industrial estate was its previous location which closed in 1965. We passed over the River Lowman which joins the River Exe just south of the town and proceeded into Gold Street before turning hard right at Greggs into Bampton Street. Some of these roads were quite narrow and the bus had to give way quite often. Bampton Street became Park Street after Silver Street had been crossed.
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| The River Lowman in Tiverton town centre |
After a while the bus went right at Belmont Road past Pinnox Moor Road which I had seen as a destination on the No 343 bus and then subsequently right into Courtney Road after the road had morphed into Cowley Moor Road. We followed left into Elmore Way and I noticed how the bus stop here had cars parked across it. At the end of this road the bus reversed into a dead end and headed back the way it had come to Cowley Moor Road. There were about ten people on the bus and had been from the start so I was beginning to wonder when anyone would be getting off!
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After the first reverse in Elmore Way. The bus stop
which
had a car either side of it making pulling in of a bus
an impossibility |
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| The second reverse in Lower Moor Way |
As Cowley Moor Road turned into Beech Road we headed down Sycamore Road amongst a whole estate of tree names. Even then people didn't get off and it was only beyond the end of Lime Road when we intercepted Queensway that any passengers got off and after this that was progressively the case as Queensway returned us to Beech Road. Here we took a right and then right again into Lea Road which ran into Lowman Way. At Lower Moor Way the bus reversed again and then returned to Lea Road picking up a passenger as it did so and the final two original ones got off. Lea Road took us around the north and NW side of town before running into the A3198 near Tiverton Rugby Club. The bus took a foray along the A3126 as far as Tiverton and District Hospital but there were no takers as it went around the roundabout and returned to take the right up Park Hill. This road became called The Works after passing the Castle and then also the parish church of St Peter's. Following left we entered Newport Street and then crossing Bampton Street we went right into Barrington Street which is one way. Instead of turning left to go over the River Lowman and back to the bus station the bus turned right and headed up Gold Street passing Charmaine as it did so. At Greggs this time we went straight on into Fore Street where the road appeared to be pedestrianised but buses are excluded from that I presumed. Here everyone but I got off and the driver waited for a while, before going ahead passing the memorial hall and over the River Exe. We then turned left onto the A3126 again and subsequently left again back over the River Exe before terminating after turning left into Phoenix Lane at the bus station at 1445. The bus then became the No 349 and this appears to the do the same journey as the No 348 but in reverse. However, since there is a No 349 in London I need to do that one.
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| Stagecoach 48007 back at the bus station |
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| Inside Tiverton Museum |
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| GWR No 1442 allowing inspection of cab |
I then visited the museum to see the Tivvy Bumper, the 0-4-2 tank engine that used to provide services to Tiverton from Tiverton Junction station.
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To the east of Tiverton there is an extensive
area owned by Blundell's school |
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| Typical red Devon soil |
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| Orpington Court at Halburton, the house on left shown below |
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Back at Tiverton Parkway station
with a Hitachi class 802 heading west |
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Bus tickets on same bus SC 10691 to Tiverton and
return |
We caught the 1745 departure of the No 373 back to Tiverton Parkway station which missed the 1806 train by two minutes. Thus we had almost an hour and a half to kill at the station. The 1931 train did arrive on time and despite being held up behind a late running freight train and a potential points failure in Reading we arrived at Paddington only 4 minutes late at 2128. We then took the Elizabeth line to Farringdon and the Thameslink back to East Croydon and finally a No 410 home arriving at 2245. A long but successful trip!
