Image Ref : CT 0066.tif

Staverton builders

Staverton Builders on the old racecourse. Totnes Quay line opened 10/11/1873 when all trains were worked by horses. By the following year locos were permitted over part of the route, horses being in control over the remainder until replaced by tractors from 1948. This branch continued until 1967. In 1964 it was a storage site for the embryo Great Western Society. Most of the stock departed this site on 01.12.1967 with official closure of the line following. GWR No.1363 remained until May 1969 and track lifting commenced the same year. The old grandstand, from the racecourse, now houses offices and stores of Staverton Contractors. In this photograph the old crane driver and lorry driver standing in front. The driver went to pick up lorry specially for carrying the crane. This same crane excavated Nortel. ***