On the 2.15pm Plymouth-Exeter St Davids made up of GWR stock. The gradient board says 1 in 377 easing to 1 in 625 Peter Kerslake saysMy usual vantage point for capturing on film locomotives on the final stretch of Hemerdon bank was from the bridge seen here in the background, at the very top of the incline, but I have gone to the second bridge for this shot, just before Hemerdon Summit signal box. Note how the down line vanishes from view below the bridge at the top of the one in forty two grade, as Exmouth Junction's 34061 73 Squadron picks up speed on the afternoon return working from Plymouth to Exeter, this being one of the workings for Southern Region footplate crews running with their own engines on the Western Region main line in order that they could become familiar with that route in the event of a blockage of their own line running via Okehampton and North Dartmoor . It's all overgrown here now, the path to the signal box and platelayers' hut have long since vanished, but the bridge in the background is a favourite still for today's cameramen when there's a steam special tackling Hemerdon bank !