See the Gallery page for larger images.
Old Princetown railway line
In the Glynn Valley, 1880s
This painting is being worked up to depict the main line from Paddington to Penzance via Plymouth, between Doublebois and Bodmin Road. It depicts the line in its majesty of Brunels famous broad gauge of 70 ¼ inch and his famous wooden fan viaducts, of which on this section there were originally eight of varying heights. The train as depicted is in Great Western livery after having taken over the South Devon railway and Cornwall railway. The locomotive is one of the famous South Devon four coupled passenger saddle tanks named Gorgon. 
Friary shed Plymouth: London and South Western and Southern railway
Opened in 1908 just to the east of the station of the same name, the steam sheds at Friary were built to replace the inadequate facilities in the station itself, especially after the LSWR became more established in the Plymouth area. Over the years numerous very well known and respected classes were sub-shedded here, ranging from O2s through to T9s to merchant navy unrebuilt and rebuilt classes. The sheds suffered during the Plymouth blitz and two men were killed. In the painting, an O-6-2 of the Plymouth Devonport and South Western Junction railway is featured, this company was the means of the LSWR gaining its own independent route into Plymouth in 1891, but was subsequently bought out by the LSWR in 1923 and a very short time later becoming part of the Southern railway. 
Low tide at Laira 1880s 
The scene depicts the causeway at Laira alongside the Plym in broad gauge days with a down broad gauge passenger train headed by South Devon railway saddletank SoL passing an up goods train. The railway reached Plymouth in 1848 and indeed for a short while the terminus was nearby at Laira Green until extended to Millbay in 1849. Nearby ran the famous Plymouth and Dartmoor horse drawn tramway built to the Dartmoor gauge of 4’6” built to transport materials up to Princetown and opened in 1823, lasting in some form until 1960. 
West Country/Battle of Britain class 4-6-2 “92 Squadron” at Friary shed 
Built in 1948 to O.V Bulleids designs and being a lighter version of his wartime merchant Navy class, these versatile locomotives were built to serve in areas where the heavier merchants could not operate, namely the West Country and the long lines to such places as Ilfracombe, Bude, Barnstaple and Plymouth. As designed and built, they had the unique and controversial Bulleid chain oil bath in which the valve gear for steam admission to the cylinders was enclosed, but by the mid 50s, sixty of these lightweights were rebuilt losing their air streaming casing and the chain drive. No.34081, however, survived until 1964 with both, and, when withdrawn in this year, was preserved.
Bray Station, 1910
B4 class O-4-O shunting at Cattedown 
The area of the Cattewater was served by an extensive system of lines originating at Cattewater Junction just a short distance south of Friary locomotive shed and, though totally London and South Western owned, interconnected with the Great Western and line to Plympton and thence to Turnchapel through a series of junctions including the previous mentioned. Serving oil and tar depots, Victoria Wharf and various other businesses including Cattedown power station. These lines were purely freight only and called for careful working. Enter the Adams B4 class of locomotives introduced in 1891-03 and ideally suited to such work, also working the Sutton Harbour branch and Stonehouse Creek branch from Devonport Kings Road station. Pugnacious and reliable, these little four coupled tanks could go anywhere and could easily overcome sharp curvatures. This particular example shown in BR days is pictured just west of the Cattewater tunnel which brought the line through the ridge on which Cattedown road ran.
Study in heavy freight: Stanier class 8F 2-8-O locomotive 
Introduced in 1935 as one of his family of standard locomotives to replace the many older classes of the many constituent companies which made up the London Midland and Scottish railways, William Stanier (later Sir) introduced on the freight side this very successful and long lives heavy freight locomotive influenced by the 28m class of the Great Western railway. They were noted for their prodigious hauling powers. So successful were they class that they wre chosed as the War Departments war locomotive and because of demand the class were built at all four locomotive works of the LMS, GWR, LNER and Southern The war saw them serve in many theatres including Arabia, Turkey and Palestine (Israel).