2nd time visits to Totnes and Ivybridge with my last visits being at Totnes on October 4th last year which featured the visit of the Flying Scotsman and with Ivybridge last visit was August 10th last year.

Totnes was 1st opened in 1847 by the South Devon Railway Company when it was opened between Newton which is today's Newton Abbot as a temporary terminus. It wasn't until the following year on May 5th 1848 when it was extended to Plymouth although on the site of today's Laira depot.

The station became a junction in 1872 when the line to Buckfastleigh as well as a branch line to Ashburton with the latter run by the Totnes and South Devon Railway.

The Ashburton line lost it's passenger services on November 3rd 1958 before closing for good in September 10th 1962.

However 4 months earlier on April 14th 1962 the station buildings on the Westbound platform were destroyed by fire. Temporary buildings were erected.

The present station building dates from October 21st 1983 which replaced the temporary structures.

From April 5th 1985 to September 2nd 1987 services operated out of Totnes to the Buckfastliegh Line now known as the South Devon Railway Heritage Line.

The footbridge which crosses over the River Dart to link up with the South Devon Heritage Railway Line at Totnes Riverside dates from September 30th 1993.

As for Totnes the former 1887 footbridge which enabled access to the operations floor of the signal box was destroyed by a crane during a period of track renewals on October 18th 1987 although was replaced in the aftermath.

The 1987 footbridge had been removed replaced by a new one with Lifts although at the time of filming the Lifts were still being installed.

The quiet station of Ivybridge opened 6 weeks after the South Devon Railway extended to Plymouth on June 15th 1848 although not on today's location.

The original station was located to the west of the Ivybridge Viaduct although originally single track.

The line west became double track on June 11th 1893 with the east direction being doubled 2 months later on August 13th. The originally timber structure built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel was replaced with a stone viaduct in 1894.

The original Ivybridge station closed to passenger traffic in 1959 with the goods station closing 6 years later.

Todays Ivybridge station opened on July 15th 1994 built by British Rail although 1 mile of the far side of the viaduct.

However due to the narrow cutting to fit the station in the platforms are staggered. It was originally intended to make it a Park and Ride station enabling people to travel by train than using the A38 road however due to the lack of stopping services it hasn't lived up to fruition.

Although nowadays served by a few services to and from Plymouth to Newton Abbot or Exeter St Davids however since December 2008 3 trains a day from London Paddington or Penzance serve here.

However due to the length of the platforms being only long enough to accommodate 4 cars in todays case of the Class 800 or 802 IETs in either 9 or 10 car formations passengers can only alight from the front 4 cars.

Castle HSTs originally long distance HSTs until May 18th 2019 operate most of the stopping services with the occasional Class 150/2s or 158s still be used.

Filmed on Saturday August 3rd 2019 on iPhone 8 and edit on iMovie

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