The route of the Dartmoor Railway

THE ROUTE OF THE DARTMOOR RAILWAY

The former station at Nymet Tracey for Bow - closed in 1972

All the former railway buildings at this station are now in private ownership

Courtesy: Steve Johnson

Anyone, who in recent years has experienced a winter train journey along the seawall track at Dawlish, may be forgiven for wondering why Dr. Beeching even considered closing the line running through the station shown above let alone carrying out just such a closure. On this route, which formerly carried traffic from Exeter to Plymouth and Cornwall, there were no high seas to break over the carriages bringing water-logged locomotives to a halt. There was no need for rescue parties to risk their lives at the height of storms to come to the aid of passengers stranded by truly awesome sea and weather conditions and no need to pour money endlessly into repairing and maintaining the line.

This is the other route - part of what became a direct link between London and Plymouth and Cornwall; an inland route skirting the northern edge of Dartmoor - a route created in the 19th century, not by the Great Western Railway, but by one of its rivals - the London and South Western Railway.

The following events preceded the existence of the route:

THE EXETER TO CREDITON LINE
1847	Construction began with two broad gauge tracks
1848	Standard gauge substituted for one of the broad gauge tracks. This was later lifted and replaced once again by broad gauge before the line opened!
1851	Finally opened 12 May 1851 by the Bristol & Exeter Railway who leased the route to the London & South Western Railway in 1862.

THE TAW VALLEY LINE
1854	In July of this year, a single-track broad gauge line opened, carrying freight from Barnstaple and connecting to the existing Crediton to Exeter line. It had been built by the North Devon Railway & Dock Company.
1854	In August of 1854, this line began to carry passengers.
1862	L&SWR took over the lease of the Exeter to Crediton Railway from the BER.
1863	L&SWR took over the lease of the Taw Valley line from Crediton to Barnstaple, at roughly the same time acquiring the lease of the new Barnstaple to Bideford extension.

The L&SWR Colebrook to Okehampton route (1865 - 1871)

Backed by the L&SWR, the Devon & Cornwall Railway Company promoted a line from a point they named Coleford Junction, a little north west of Crediton, to Lydford via Okehampton. It was completed in sections over challenging terrain, with the first section - Coleford Junction to North Tawton - opening 1 November 1865. The junction at Coleford existed only in the track but there were stations at Colebrook and Bow (Nymet Tracey).

The next section ended near the village of Sampford Courtenay and opened 8 January 1867. The station was known as Okehampton Road while it was the terminus - when Okehampton was reached it became Belstone Corner; only in recent years was it renamed Sampford Courtenay.

Okehampton was reached 3 October 1871 but it was another three years before Lidford (or Lydford as it is now spelt) was finally opened 12 October 1874. As the track edged its way out of Okehampton it faced a huge challenge in the form of a rocky cutting on the site of the current Meldon Quarry. Today, the 13¼ mile (21.4 km) stretch of track from Coleford Junction to the quarry at Meldon is owned by Aggregate Industries and is the longest privately owned freight line in the country. On summer Sundays, it is operated by Network Rail as a tourist route on behalf of the Dartmoor Railway Company; on a daily basis it is used by the company's ballast trains.

SOME OF BOW'S PAST STATION MASTERS
1871	George Hillard
1878	William Gardiner
1881	John Busby
1893	Alfred Webb
1902	John Thornton Burge
1914	George Albert Batten
1919	William L. Board
1923	Albert Thomas Wheeler