I know I said I wouldn’t be doing any work over the holiday, but here I am with a new blog post; I just cannot keep away. The next station is Clearbrook Halt.
This series of post have been based on the Plymouth to Launceston railway. So far, I’ve covered Plymouth Millbay, North Road, Mutley, Laira Halt, Bickleigh, and Shaugh Bridge. At the moment, I have missed out Marsh Mills and Plym Bridge, as I’m waiting for permission for photos.
Clearbrook Halt
Just north of Shaugh Bridge and just before Yelverton, was Clearbrook Halt.
The halt was just east of the village, and a busy little station. During the 1950s, there was a lot of passenger and freight traffic. Freight traffic was usually hauled by a 2-6-2 52xx class, and would consist of cattle, milk and other general goods.
Passenger trains were withdrawn on the 31st December 1962, with the last train running in heavy blizzard. The track was then demolished in the spring/summer of 1964, with only a walkway now remaining.
The history of Clearbrook Halt
Old sleepers formed the Clearbrook platform, with bridgerail sections edging it and holding it in place. Loose chippings covered the surface and ran back to the unfenced rear. A grass bank and assorted shrubbery marked the boundary.
This was at the station, looking southwards towards Shaugh Bridge and then on to Plymouth. Image by Lens of Sutton.
This time, looking north towards Yelverton. The station nameboard was an over large wooden affair sporing large cast iron letters. At the north end was a ‘bicycleshed’ type waiting room, corrugated in iron with a solitary bench standing adjacent to it. Image by Lens of Sutton.
Passenger services at Clearbrook commenced on 29th Oct 1928, with the beautiful Dartmoor scenery driving most of the traffic. The halt served Clearbrook, and the residents at Hoo Meavy and Goodmeavy. No 4583 is northbound on 21st Aug 1947. Image by R. J. Buckley.
This is from the Peter Grey collection. I’m not sure of the year it was taken, but it shows a local Scout Group at the station, maybe off on an adventure. Image by Peter Grey.
Off The Rails
LSWR ‘395 class’ loco No 442 off the road near Clreabrook on the 18th November 1887. Image by R. T. Coxon and E. Thomas.
The 11am train from Waterloo to Devonport hauled by an Adams 0-6-0 tender locomotive, No 442, was derailed at MP6½, just below Clearbrook Halt and Good-a-Meavy Bridge. Sadly, the driver was killed.
A broken coupling apparently caused the accident, but the loco’s rigid wheelbase contributed to the derailment. This accident meant the termination of that class of loco on the branch.
Clearbrook Today
I’ve not had the chance to visit the line myself, but I have some images of the area taken from Google Maps.
This is the main road coming out of Clearbrook, and just under the bridge for the line. This is looking west, towards the village.
Clearbrook Village Hall, showing the signs for Route 27 on Dartmoor, which is some of the old Plymouth to Launceston railway line.
Some of the locals you might meet near Clearbrook, with stunning views of Dartmoor in the background. You can understand why the halt was a popular place to stop.
Up Next
I hopefully have some more images of Clearbrook on the way, but I am just waiting for permission to post them.
In the meantime, I have just finished re-editing the video Plymouth to Launceston Via Tavistock South, with new music and images. It contains some wonderful movie images of the line as well, including one of the last trains on the line.
Thank you to Anthony Kingdom for the use of some of the images above. They are from his book The Plymouth Tavistock and Launceston Railway, which covers the line in great depth. I also want to thank Middleton Press for use of their images. Please see their WEBSITE for many, many books on the railways around the UK.
The next station, and the next blog post, will be Yelverton. I have many photos to share and a lot of movie film of the line.
