Exeter St Davids in 1986
On 25th September 1986 I visited Exeter and spent a couple of hours at St Davids station. In those days this was a haven for the Class 50 "Hoovers" enthusiast and in that short visit I witnessed 7 different services class 50 hauled. It was a surprisingly interesting location, a few years earlier I would have seen Class 45's on the west country to midlands and the north services, but by 1986 on my visit these were 47 or 50 hauled. The HST's were appearing on these services too and were the main haulage for London Plymouth trains. The Penzance trains were still class 50 hauled as were the London Waterloo via Salisbury to Exeter and V.V. Class 31's were about on local freight and engineers trains and in this video a class 50 on a test train runs into Exeter Yard. The station and yard shunter was in the hands of an 08. How this location has changed with modernisation is apparent when you see it now, yet the station itself has kept it's character. Again I do hope the video will evoke fond memories and many thanks for viewing.