Warship Class 41 No D601 Ark Royal approaches Teignmouth with the down 'Cornish Riviera Express' on September 2, 1958.

Peter Kerslake adds "This was the locomotive which took the inaugural accelerated Cornish Riviera Express from Paddington to Plymouth without stopping in exactly four hours on 16th June 1958. This was the start of through working between Paddington and Penzance avoiding the need to change engines at Plymouth, so long a tradition of steam working. Allocated to Plymouth's Laira from newly built at Glasgow by the North British Locomotive Company the five members of this class were to prove unreliable in service. In April 1962 they were restricted to working only in Cornwall and in Devon only as far east as Newton Abbot.
This picture is at Sprey Point with Parson's Tunnel in the far distance."

Photo: K.L. Cook/Rail Archive Stephenson