South Devon Railway engine houses

Atmospheric engine houses

Bristol and Exeter Railway 0.00 Exeter 50°43′41″N 3°32′40″W / 50.72817°N 3.54433°W / 50.72817; -3.54433 London and South Western Railway Exeter SDR station 3.25 Countess Wear 50°41′28″N 3°30′02″W / 50.69100°N 3.50056°W / 50.69100; -3.50056 5.75 Turf 50°39′45″N 3°28′12″W / 50.66253°N 3.47000°W / 50.66253; -3.47000 8.50 Starcross 50°37′36″N 3°26′49″W / 50.62659°N 3.44698°W / 50.62659; -3.44698 12.00 Dawlish 50°34′54″N 3°27′48″W / 50.58172°N 3.46331°W / 50.58172; -3.46331 15.00 Teignmouth 50°32′54″N 3°29′41″W / 50.54846°N 3.49467°W / 50.54846; -3.49467 18.00 Summer House 50°32′40″N 3°33′54″W / 50.54444°N 3.56510°W / 50.54444; -3.56510 20.00 Newton 50°31′53″N 3°35′55″W / 50.53138°N 3.59857°W / 50.53138; -3.59857 24.00 Torquay(not used) 50°29′07″N 3°33′13″W / 50.48531°N 3.55351°W / 50.48531; -3.55351 24.00 Dainton(not used) 50°29′00″N 3°37′20″W / 50.48343°N 3.62226°W / 50.48343; -3.62226 28.75 Totnes(not used) 50°26′12″N 3°41′18″W / 50.43653°N 3.68835°W / 50.43653; -3.68835 Rattery(not completed) 50°25′54″N 3°46′59″W / 50.43156°N 3.78313°W / 50.43156; -3.78313 SDR to Plymouth

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The South Devon Railway engine houses were built in Devon, England, to power the atmospheric trains on the South Devon Railway between Exeter St Davids and Plymouth Millbay railway stations. They contained boilers that provided the power to pumps that created the partial vacuum to move the trains. Three of them still stand largely intact alongside the line.

The South Devon Railway was built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel who proposed moving the trains by atmospheric power. Brunel and other engineers travelled to Dalkey in Ireland in 1843 to view such a system undergoing tests on the Dublin and Kingstown Railway. There, Brunel's engineer of locomotives for the GWR, Daniel Gooch, calculated that conventional locomotives could work the proposed line at lower cost, but Brunel's concerns about the heavy grades led him to try the system regardless. The South Devon Railway directors agreed on 28 August 1844 to Brunel's proposal to use atmospheric power on their line. Brunel estimated that by reducing the double track locomotive worked line to a single track atmospheric line a saving of £8,000 per year could be made. Double track lines were favoured at that time even for lightly worked lines as this reduced the chances of a collision between trains, but the atmospheric system precludes the possibility of two trains travelling in opposite directions on the same section of track.

The pipes were ordered from George Hennet, an engineering contractor who worked on many of Brunel's lines. He established a factory at Bridgwater, Somerset, to make them.

The line opened with conventional steam locomotives to Teignmouth on 30 May 1846 and was extended to Newton on 30 December 1846. The first piston carriage (which connected the train to the pipe) was delivered on 25 February 1847 and experimental running with atmospheric power started immediately. Public services were run to Teignmouth from 13 September 1847 and extended to Newton from 10 January 1848. At this time some trains were still worked by locomotives, but from 23 February 1848 all scheduled trains were powered by the atmospheric system.

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Wikipedia