Despite a Storm Imogen-induced landslip which blocked the seven-mile, steam-operated South Devon Railway’s line near Totnes earlier this week – so putting the SDR’s February half-term Winter Steam Festival’ at risk – the railway’s stalwart workers toiled against the clock to reopen the line in time for trains to run as planned from this Saturday.

The landslip, affecting around 20 yards of track and including 12 trees and around 80 tonnes of stone and mud, took place some time over the weekend of February 6 and 7 after staff undertaking a line inspection on Monday found their way blocked by fallen trees, soil and stone near milepost 1½ between Totnes and Staverton, near Woodville.

The rest of the line was also inspected but no significant storm damage found. A team of SDR paid staff and volunteers rapidly cleared the area of fallen trees and debris using chainsaws, shovels and mobile plant machinery, as well as carrying out the necessary safety inspections.

All preparations for the nine days of the February half term festival – from Saturday, February 13,to Sunday, February 21, are now in place.

The SDR suffered another, far more serious landslip two years ago on Boxing Day 2013 which resulted in an enforced six-week closure of the line whilst several hundred tonnes of mud, stone and trees were removed and new drains and track installed.

SDR Railway manager Chris Williams commented: “I’d like to praise the SDR team who happily carried out the clear-up work this week, not only in difficult conditions and at a remote location, but also against the clock so that we could run trains again this weekend!

“We had a team of men working on site all week, using chainsaws, shovels and our mobile, rail mounted excavator machine to clear the area of some 80 tonnes of debris and cut up a dozen fallen trees to make the track safe again. The job took some 200 man hours of labour and has cost us around £5,000 so far."