Bere Alston railway station serves the village of Bere Alston in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, north of

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to ...

on the Tamar Valley Line to Gunnislake. The route escaped complete closure in the 1960s mainly because places on the line have relatively poor road connections. However, one section of the branch, beyond Gunnislake to Callington, did not survive.

History

Beer Alston station was opened for passengers on 2 June 1890 by the

Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway The Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway (PD&SWJR) was an English railway company. It constructed a main line railway between Lydford and Devonport, in Devon, England, enabling the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) to reac ...

as an intermediate station on that company's line from

Lydford Lydford, sometimes spelled Lidford, is a village, once an important town, in Devon, north of Tavistock on the western fringe of Dartmoor in the West Devon district. There is an electoral ward with the same name which includes Princetown. The p ...

to Devonport, which – being in effect an extension of the

London and South Western Railway The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exeter ...

's main line from

London Waterloo station Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station of t ...

to Lydford, enabling the LSWR to reach Plymouth independently of the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

– was immediately leased to the LSWR. Bere Alston station was 220 miles and 15

chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. ...

s (354.35 km) from Waterloo. The station was originally called Beer Alston after the local Beer family who owned several nearby villages. However, in 1897, the railway authorities of the time decided that this name promoted an unrefined image of the village due to the association with

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

, and therefore changed the name to Bere Alston in 1898. On 2 March 1908 it became a junction, with the opening of a branch line to Callington Road. The PDSWJR became part of the Southern Railway in 1923 and

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British ...

on 1 January 1948. The LSWR line from

Okehampton Okehampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. It is situated at the northern edge of Dartmoor, and had a population of 5,922 at the 2011 census. Two electoral wards are based in the town (east and w ...

to Bere Alston was closed on 6 May 1968 (as a result of the

Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...

), which left just the Gunnislake service running through from Plymouth and reversing at Bere Alston. This had also been threatened with closure, but retained due to the local topography & poor nature of the local road network (though the last section to Callington had closed in November 1966). The line from Plymouth was reduced to just a single track on 7 September 1970 and the junction changed to allow the train guard to operate the points. On 18 March 2008 Devon County Council backed a proposal by developers Kilbride Community Rail to construct 750 houses in

Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of 13 ...

that includes reopening the line from Bere Alston to a new

Tavistock railway station Tavistock railway station is a proposed new station to serve Tavistock in Devon, England, in order to reinstate a rail connection between the town and Plymouth, about to the south. History Tavistock used to have two railway stations, both now cl ...

at a cost of £18.5million. There have also been proposals put forward to reopen the entire route through to and as a diversionary/relief route to maintain the rail link between Plymouth and Cornwall and the rest of the UK should the coastal main line via be blocked by bad weather, as was the case in early 2014.

Services

Bere Alston is served by trains on the Tamar Valley Line from to . Connections with main line services can be made at Plymouth. In 2014 there are nine services each way on Mondays to Fridays, eight on Saturdays and five on Sundays.

Community railway

The railway from Plymouth to Gunnislake is designated as a

community railway Community rail in Britain is the support of railway lines and stations by local organisations, usually through community rail partnerships (CRPs) comprising railway operators, local councils, and other community organisations, and rail user group ...

and is supported by marketing provided by the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership. The line is promoted under the " Tamar Valley Line" name. The Edgcumbe

Hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

in Bere Alston village is part of the Tamar Valley Line

rail ale trail A rail ale trail is a marketing exercise in the United Kingdom that is designed to promote tourism to a rural area, by encouraging people to visit a series of pubs that are close to stations along a railway line. Participants are rewarded for v ...

, which is designed to promote the use of the line.Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership (2006), ''Tamar Valley Line Rail Ale Trail'' The line is also part of the

Dartmoor Sunday Rover The Dartmoor Sunday Rover was a Devon County Council-supported bus and rail network in Devon, England. It was withdrawn after the 2015 season. The network included buses operated by Stagecaoch Devon, Country Bus, Dartline and Target Travel. The ...

network of integrated bus and rail routes.

References

External links

Bere Alston – An Outline History of the Railway Station

Bere Alston Railway Station video footage
{{Devon railway stations Railway stations in Devon Former Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1890 Railway stations served by Great Western Railway Bere Ferrers 1890 establishments in England DfT Category F2 stations