Talk:South Devon Railway engine houses

Odd statement about smaller pipes and ropes at stations
I'm mystified by this statement:


 * At stations a smaller pipe was laid alongside the track and a piston in this was connected to the train by a rope to start it moving.

Why was a second pipe and piston needed to start the train?. And if the piston was attached to the train by a rope, what happened when the train left the station and the smaller pipe behind?. I have this vision of the train sailing off down the line towing a piston along the sleepers after it; but surely that cannot be right. Can somebody expand this text to address these points?. -- Chris j wood 16:56, 10 June 2007 (UTC)


 * It is not possible to lay the atmospheric pipe between the rails through points, so at stations a "starting tube" was laid outside the rails and a piston fitted into it. The train was connected to a piston by a rope - not an unocmmon thing in thouse days, with horses and steam locomotives often shunting awkward sidings with ropes - and the rope was dropped off when the train had passed over the points and reached the main atmospheric tube. Geof Sheppard 07:12, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Retitle?
I wonder if there is any appetite to retitle this article; the Engine Houses, yes, very interesting, but I see that there is some already supplementary information beyond that, and the engine houses alone aren't a gripping topic.

There is quite a lot of information on the South Devon atmospheric system which needs a home; the Atmospheric Railway article is too diffused for this, and the South Devon Railway Company page would be rather lopsided if all the atmospheric stuff was put there.

What about renaming this page : South Devon Railway atmospheric system? Afterbrunel (talk) 07:49, 24 January 2014 (UTC)


 * No support for that then. Afterbrunel (talk) 09:13, 1 February 2014 (UTC)