Whitstone and Bridgerule was a railway station on the Bude Branch that closed in 1966. The station was opened in 1898 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, Exete ...

(LSWR) when the line was extended from Holsworthy station to the new terminus of the line at

Bude Bude (, locally or ; Cornish language, Cornish ) is a seaside town in north Cornwall, England, in the civil parish of Bude-Stratton and at the mouth of the River Neet (also known locally as the River Strat). It was sometimes formerly known as ...

. The station had been proposed for closure in the

Beeching Report Beeching is an English surname. It is either a derivative of the old English ''bece'', ''bæce'' "stream", hence "dweller by the stream" or of the old English ''bece'' "beech-tree" hence "dweller by the beech tree".''Oxford Dictionary of English Sur ...

. The station sat inconveniently between the settlements of

Bridgerule Bridgerule is a village and civil parish in Devon, England, a mile from the border with Cornwall. The parish is divided by the River Tamar, which no longer forms the border between Devon and Cornwall there. The river often floods the High Stree ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

and Whitstone in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

History

The LSWR's branch line from

Okehampton Okehampton ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 7,313, which was slightly more than the 7,104 recorded at the 2011 census. Th ...

to Bude took nineteen years and four acts of Parliament. The original line had been authorised as far as

Holsworthy Holsworthy is a market town and civil parish in the Torridge district of Devon, England, west of Exeter. The River Deer, a tributary of the River Tamar, forms the western boundary of the parish, which includes the village of Brandis Corner. ...

where a station was opened on 20 January 1879.Southern E-Group, "Bude"
/ref> The Holsworthy and Bude Railway Act 1883 ( 46 & 47 Vict. c. ccii) was passed on 20 August 1883. However no works were commenced on the extension and the deadline for completion of the line by October 1891 was looking unlikely to be met. Since by the end of 1891 no progress had been made, a further bill was promoted seeking the abandonment of the line; the act, the Holsworthy and Bude Railway (Abandonment) Act 1892 (55 & 56 Vict. c. xx), was passed on 20 May 1892. This did not deter the residents of Stratton and Bude who, in 1894, successfully lobbied the LSWR to promote a second bill. The South Western Railway Act 1895 ( 58 & 59 Vict. c. cxliv) was passed on 6 July 1895 and authorised a somewhat different route than that set out in the first act.

The station

The line was single track, however a signal box with a passing loop was located here with sidings, a goods shed. The station had a ticket office and waiting room with a simple shelter on the second platform. The station was unaltered from the day it was built and in 1964 still had its LSWR enamel nameplate.Gammell, Photograph 162. The distance was between

and Whitstone and Bridgerule, for which passenger trains were allowed 8 minutes.

Services

Passenger services were never very frequent. The pattern of services changed after the handover of the line to the

Western Region of British Railways The Western Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right on completion of the "Organising for Quality" initiative on 6 April 1992. The Region consisted principally of ex-Great We ...

from 1 January 1963 when services became more local and the through-coaches to Waterloo were discontinued. Bude had a local shuttle service to and from Okehampton for the final months of its existence.Pryer, Page 31

The station today

The station itself is in private hands but still standing in an average state.

Incidents

On 7 September 1950 a tractor and trailer were struck at 5.29pm by a passenger train at the Hopworthy Farm level crossing between

and Whitstone and Bridgerule, resulting in three dead from the trailer and the tractor driver thrown over a hedge and suffering only minor injuries. The dead were the mother, father, and sister of the driver. The driver mistakenly believed that this train had already gone past and the inquiry advised that the crossing be closed. No one on the train was injured.Hopworthy Accident
Retrieved : 2012-10-16

References

;Notes ;Sources * * *

External links

The station in 2004

The old goods shed

The station in 2008
{{coord, 50.7869, -4.4564, type:railwaystation_region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(SS210059), display=title Disused railway stations in Devon Former London and South Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1898 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1966 Beeching closures in England Torridge District