The first train arrived at what is now Totnes mainline station from Newton Abbot 175 years ago on 20th July 1847.
It was hauled by a steam engine but the plan was to operate the line by atmospheric power and an engine house was built behind the eastbound platform to provide the vacuum.
Brunel had turned his attention this revolutionary propulsion system because he was concerned about how well steam locomotives would cope hauling trains on the steep gradients west of Newton Abbot. The system involved a pipe laid between the broad-gauge rails, and stationary steam engines located in pumping houses at intervals along the route. A special carriage was placed at the front of each train carrying a piston which fitted in the tube. The tube was slotted at the top so that the piston could be connected to the carriage and a continuous leather seal was placed over the slot stopping air getting in and destroying the vacuum. The stationary steam engines pumped air out of the pipe in front of the train creating a partial vacuum. The pressure of the atmosphere behind the piston pushed the train forward. The leather seal was opened by rollers immediately ahead of the bracket carrying the piston and closed immediately behind it so maintaining the vacuum.
Atmospheric power was adopted by directors of the South Devon Railway in 1844 for the line from Exeter to Newton Abbot and the plan was to continue using it onwards to Plymouth using bigger pipes on the western section to cope with the gradients. The line was completed to Newton Abbot by the end of 1846, but steam engines had to be used for the first trains because the pipes had not been laid for the atmospheric system. By the time the line reached Totnes, atmospheric experiments were still taking place and it wasn’t until January 1848 that the first atmospheric trains reached Newton.
An engine house to pump air from the pipe was constructed at Totnes but steam engines operated the first trains here too. As technical problems mounted, Brunel started to have doubts about the viability of the atmospheric system because he still hadn’t ordered the pumping engines for the extension beyond Newton.
In August 1848 the scheme was abandoned after half a million pounds had been spent on it. Trains reverted to steam traction. Totnes was a terminus until 5 May 1848 when trains started to run through to Plymouth.
So, Totnes has an atmospheric railway pumping house, but it never had a stationary pumping engine, and the town was never served by a train powered by atmospheric pressure.
The engine house, built in Brunel’s rustic Italianate style, is only one of three surviving today. After standing out of use, the building was converted into a creamery by Dawes in 1934. It was later sold to Unigate and Dairy Crest. Two large horizontal boilers were installed in the boiler house connected to a new cylindrical chimney. In 1966 the creamery reportedly produced a ton of Devon clotted cream each day. The last user, Dairy Crest, stopped production in 2007. English Heritage gave the atmospheric buildings a Grade II listing in 2008.
Since milk processing came to an end, a local community group called Totnes Community Development Society (TCDS) has been working to transform the eight-acre site into a community project called Atmos. They sought to build 62 genuinely affordable homes, 37 retirement homes, workspaces providing employment for at least 160 people, a hotel, community and youth facilities, and an arts centre. In 2016, a local referendum was held on the Atmos plans, in which 86% of voters supported the scheme.
But the whole project has been stalled since the new owners of Dairy Crest sold the site to a company called Fastglobe last year for 1.3 million pounds. On its website Fastglobe describes itself as a "specialist contractor to the construction industry".
Rob Hopkins from Totnes Community Development Society says “the situation is that we still have £2.75m held by National Lottery Heritage Fund for doing it up, which can't be transferred to anyone else, and we are pushing towards a compelling case for South Hams District Council doing a Compulsory Purchase of the whole site”.
Councillor Judy Pearce, executive member for development management, at South Hams District Council, told the BBC last year that the authority was "keen to see the development of the site in accordance with the joint local plan" and it would be "working through the planning system with the landowners to bring that about".
She added that a compulsory purchase of the site was "not something that we would consider".
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