Dartmoor Railway
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The Dartmoor line is a railway line 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. Devon is ...
, England. From , the line runs alongside the
Tarka Line The Tarka Line, also known as the North Devon Line, is a local railway line in Devon, England, linking the city of Exeter with the town of Barnstaple via a number of local villages, operated by Great Western Railway (GWR). The line opened in ...
to the site of the former Coleford Junction where it diverges west to . Previously a
heritage line A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...
, it is owned by
Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
. The route was originally part 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 route from Exeter to Plymouth, which was opened between 1865 and 1879. In 1968,
British Rail 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 rai ...
closed the line beyond Meldon (two miles beyond Okehampton) as part of the
Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised British Rail, railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Develop ...
. The Exeter to Okehampton passenger service was withdrawn by British Rail in 1972. The line itself remained open for freight services from the
railway ballast Track ballast forms the trackbed upon which railroad ties (sleepers) are laid. It is packed between, below, and around the ties. It is used to bear the load from the railroad ties, to facilitate drainage of water, and also to keep down vegetat ...
quarry at Meldon. From 1997 to 2019, the line was operated as a heritage railway by the Dartmoor Railway
community interest company A community interest company (CIC, colloquially pronounced "kick") is a type of company introduced by the United Kingdom government in 2005 under the Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004, designed for social ente ...
. During this time,
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 ...
ran a public service between
Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...
and Okehampton on summer Sundays. Meldon quarry was mothballed in 2011, ceasing the use of the line for freight. In July 2021, as part of the government's
Restoring Your Railway The Beeching cuts were a reduction of route network and restructuring of British Rail in the 1960s. Since the mid-1990s there has been significant growth in passenger numbers on the railways and renewed government interest in the role of rail ...
programme, the line was transferred to Network Rail ownership, and regular national rail passenger services began in November of the same year.


History


Construction

The Okehampton Railway, an independent company supported by 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 ...
, was authorised on 17 July 1862 to build a line on the northern margins of
Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous ...
from
Coleford Junction Yeoford railway station is a rural station serving the village of Yeoford in Devon, England. It is on the Tarka Line to , from at milepost 183 from . History The station was opened by the North Devon Railway in July 1857. On 1 November 18 ...
(north west of Crediton) to . Before the line was built it had been leased to the LSWR and an extension authorised to Lidford. In 1864 it was renamed as the Devon and Cornwall Railway (which was absorbed into the LSWR in 1872, before the new line opened) and construction finally started. It opened slowly in sections: from Coleford Junction to on 1 November 1865; from there to Okehampton Road (later renamed ) on 8 January 1867; to itself on 3 October 1871; and finally to Lydford on 12 October 1874. This allowed trains to run a
through service A through service is a concept of passenger transport that involves a vehicle travelling between lines, networks or operators on a regularly specified schedule, on which the passenger can remain on board without alighting. It may be in form of eith ...
to . The constructors of the line adopted a policy of navigating around natural obstacles, rather than going over or through them as earlier builders had done. The section from Coleford Junction through to North Tawton is simple and contains a straight section, but the line soon begins to curve as it climbs the edge at Dartmoor, at a 1 in 77 gradient. Okehampton station is located on the edge of the moor, above the town. The high point of the line is about two miles further, reaching near Meldon Viaduct. The LSWR became a part of the new, larger Southern Railway at the
Grouping Grouping may refer to: * Muenchian grouping * Principles of grouping * Railways Act 1921, also known as Grouping Act, a reorganisation of the British railway system * Grouping (firearms), the pattern of multiple shots from a sidearm See also ...
in 1923. This in turn became the
Southern Region of British Railways The Southern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948 until 1992 when railways were re-privatised. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s. The region covered south London, southern England and the sout ...
on nationalisation in 1948.


British Rail

At the peak of services through Okehampton in the 1950s, there were twelve or more daily trains in each direction; on summer Saturdays, this could increase with duplicate
Atlantic Coast Express The ''Atlantic Coast Express'' (''ACE'') is an express passenger train in England that has operated at various times between London and seaside resorts in the South West England. It is currently operated as a summer only service by Great Weste ...
services. In the early 1960s, a car transporter train ran between Surbiton and Okehampton on summer Saturdays, bringing holidaymakers and their cars from the London area. Trains between Exeter and Plymouth via Okehampton were withdrawn from 6 May 1968, leaving a shuttle service to run between Exeter and Okehampton. The section between
Meldon Quarry Meldon Quarry is a granite quarry in Devon, England. It is at the northern edge of Dartmoor, about 2 miles SW of Okehampton. It was developed from 1897 to supply track ballast and other stone products for the London and South Western Railway (LSW ...
and was lifted, and between Meldon and Okehampton the line was only retained for freight trains. Okehampton to Exeter passenger services were withdrawn on 5 June 1972. Between 1972 and 1997, the line was used for railway ballast traffic from Meldon Quarry and occasional freight traffic to the remaining goods yard at Okehampton before its closure. Though the closure of the route was in part to save on the maintenance expenditure of Meldon Viaduct, the structure remained in use as a
headshunt A headshunt (or escape track in the United States) is a short length of track provided to release locomotives at terminal platforms, or to allow shunting to take place clear of main lines. Terminal headshunt A 'terminal headshunt' is a short ...
for the quarry, given a new layout in 1979 for increased traffic. Occasional charter and special trains were operated to Okehampton and Meldon Quarry during the passenger closure period. The railway reopened to regular passenger services in 1997 with the formation of Dartmoor Railway.


Heritage operation

The Dartmoor line from Coleford Junction to Okehampton was in heritage operation from 1997 to 2019. The origins of the restored Dartmoor Railway lie in British Rail's 1994 sale of Meldon Quarry to Camas Aggregates, a multinational quarrying company, along with the railway line up to its junction with Network Rail at Coleford. A collaboration between
Devon County Council Devon County Council is the county council administering the English county of Devon. Based in the city of Exeter, the council covers the non-metropolitan county area of Devon. Members of the council (councillors) are elected every four years to ...
,
West Devon Borough Council West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
and the
Dartmoor National Park Authority The Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA) is a national park authority in England, legally responsible for Dartmoor in Devon. It came into existence in its present form in 1997, being preceded by a committee of Devon County Council (from 1951 t ...
led to the creation of a plan to restore and regenerate the line and Okehampton station for tourism purposes, with the county council purchasing the station in 1996 for a nominal price from Camas. Works to refurbish Okehampton station included renovating the
station building A station building, also known as a head house, is the main building of a passenger railway station. It is typically used principally to provide services to passengers. A station building is a component of a station, which can include tracks, p ...
, raising the platform, restoring the awning, and converting the
goods shed A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train. A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built ...
into a youth
hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared b ...
. Part of the building, which saw a grand reopening on 24 May 1997, was leased to a model shop and buffet, and the Dartmoor Railway began operation in 1997 with a fleet of historic locomotives, coaches, and
diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...
and
electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a numbe ...
s, including classes 08, 47,
117 117 may refer to: *117 (number) *AD 117 *117 BC *117 (emergency telephone number) *117 (MBTA bus) * 117 (TFL bus) *117 (New Jersey bus) *''117°'', a 1998 album by Izzy Stradlin *No. 117 (SPARTAN-II soldier ID), personal name John, the Master Chief ...
,
205 Year 205 ( CCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Geta (or, less frequently, year 958 '' Ab urbe condita' ...
,
411 411 may refer to: * The year AD 411, the four hundred and eleventh year of the Gregorian calendar * 411 BC * 4-1-1, a telephone directory assistance number in the United States and Canada ** By extension, a slang term for "information" * ''What's ...
, 421 and
438 Year 438 (Roman numerals, CDXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Theodosius and Glabrio (or, less frequently, ye ...
. Steam-hauled charter services also visited occasionally.
RMS Locotec RMS Looctec is a railway company based in Wolsingham, England. It has specialised in industrial railway management, infrastructure maintenance, and rolling stock leasing; one major customer was its former sister company and rail freight operator ...
was contracted to maintain the line and rolling stock.
Meldon Viaduct Meldon Viaduct carried the London & South Western Railway (LSWR) across the West Okement River at Meldon (near Okehampton) on Dartmoor in Devon, South West England. The truss bridge, which was constructed from wrought iron and cast iron not sto ...
, an iron
truss bridge A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...
about further up the line from Okehampton, was designated as a
scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...
and refurbished shortly after the opening of the heritage railway; a new station of the same name, unrelated to any historic station, was built at its eastern end in 2000 for the heritage railway. The track across the viaduct was lifted in 1990 as the structure was assessed to be too weak to take the weight of a train. In September 2008,
British American Railway Services British American Railway Services (BARS) was a British locomotive and spot hire company. It was a subsidiary of Iowa Pacific Holdings. The company was established in 2008 to acquire the rail assets of Ealing Community Transport. BARS subsidiar ...
Ltd, a company created by
Iowa Pacific Holdings Iowa Pacific Holdings was a holding company that owned railroad properties across North America and the United Kingdom, as well as providing services such as railcar repairs, leasing, management and consulting services to other operators. The comp ...
of Chicago, became the new owner of the Dartmoor Railway
community interest company A community interest company (CIC, colloquially pronounced "kick") is a type of company introduced by the United Kingdom government in 2005 under the Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004, designed for social ente ...
. The company announced its intention to develop freight, passenger and tourist services on the railway."Heritage Railway", ''Heritage Railway Magazine''. Issue 116, 2 October 2008 – 29 October 2008. P. 18. Heritage services ran between Okehampton and Meldon Viaduct, extended to Sampford Courtenay, Bow or the Dartmoor Railway–Network Rail boundary on special event days. The former stations at
North Tawton North Tawton is a small town in Devon, England, situated on the river Taw. It is administered by West Devon Council. The population of the electoral ward at the census 2011 was 2,026. History Romans crossed the River Taw at what is now Newla ...
and Bow remain closed to passengers: both are privately-owned and have no public access. Themed trains were introduced for special occasions such as Christmas, with names like The Polar Express and The Train to Christmas Town. The quarry at Meldon was mothballed in 2011, bringing an end to stone freight trains using the line. Heritage train services ceased in December 2019 and, in February 2020, the railway entered
administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...
. Rolling stock based at Okehampton station was moved to Meldon Quarry, with most offered for resale.


Public train services

After the heritage Dartmoor Railway opened in 1997,
First Great Western Great Western Railway (GWR) is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that operates the Greater Western passenger railway franchise. It manages 197 stations and its trains call at over 270. GWR operates long-distance inter-city ...
operated a summer Sunday service of four return trips direct from Exeter between May and September, sponsored by Devon County Council. These trains connected with bus services and heritage railway services at Okehampton,
Tarka Line The Tarka Line, also known as the North Devon Line, is a local railway line in Devon, England, linking the city of Exeter with the town of Barnstaple via a number of local villages, operated by Great Western Railway (GWR). The line opened in ...
rail services at and other national rail services at Exeter.
Devon and Cornwall Railways DCRail (DCR), legally named Devon & Cornwall Railways Limited, is a British train operator. It has been active as a freight operating company since May 2011. DCR was founded in November 2003, and was as subsidiary of the British American Railway ...
(a subsidiary of
British American Railway Services British American Railway Services (BARS) was a British locomotive and spot hire company. It was a subsidiary of Iowa Pacific Holdings. The company was established in 2008 to acquire the rail assets of Ealing Community Transport. BARS subsidiar ...
) announced its intention to operate through services from Okehampton to Exeter in 2010, having made a track access application to Network Rail on 18 March 2010 to operate four return services each weekday between Okehampton and and a further two (plus one on Sundays) as far as . The service would have run under an
open access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...
licence.


Network Rail

On 19 March 2021, it was announced that the Dartmoor Line would reopen to regular, year-round services by the end of the year as the first project delivered as part of the government's "
Restoring Your Railway The Beeching cuts were a reduction of route network and restructuring of British Rail in the 1960s. Since the mid-1990s there has been significant growth in passenger numbers on the railways and renewed government interest in the role of rail ...
" programme. Preparatory work began on reopening the railway between Okehampton and Coleford Junction as soon as Government funding was confirmed in March. By May 2021,
Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
had laid more than of new track, 24,000 concrete sleepers and of ballast, and installed drainage and new fencing. In July 2021, Network Rail took over formal ownership of the line from Aggregate Industries, a successor company to Camas, which had been leasing it to the Dartmoor Railway since 1994. It also acquired the northern part of Okehampton station from Devon County Council for £1, leaving the southern side with the council. The new service started on 20 November 2021, with
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 ...
running eight trains a day (one every two hours) to , with a journey time of around 40 minutes. On weekdays, five trains, including peak-time commuter services, continue to . The frequency will be increased to hourly from May 2022, with more trains serving Exeter Central. Services are run using s although s and / 'Turbos' are also cleared to run on the route.


Route

The station buildings at Bow and North Tawton remain as private residences, while Sampford Courtenay and Meldon Viaduct stations are unused. Beyond Meldon, 11 miles of the former track bed to Lydford can be followed on foot or cycle along what is now called
The Granite Way The Granite Way is a route of 18 km (11 miles) consisting mainly of a motor traffic-free cycle/walkway between Okehampton (near the railway station) and Lydford. It was built by Devon County Council (DCC) and is part of the National Cyc ...
.


Passenger volume

The following station usage table shows only the National Rail service operated by Great Western Railway. It does not include the heritage trains operated on the railway up until 2019. The reopened line carried 250,000 in a little over its first year of operation.


References


Bibliography

* * * *


External links

*
The Dartmoor Railway Association
* * * {{Heritage railways in England 2021 establishments in England Heritage railways in Devon Rail transport in Devon Railway lines in South West England Scenic railway lines in Devon and Cornwall Standard gauge railways in England