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Representing users of the Barnstaple to Exeter rail line

www.tarkarail.org

Issue 33 Summer 2010

TARKA RAIL ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE

Price 90p (free to members)

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Front Cover: Image of the line at Lapford in the Impessionist style. © Paul Dickson, to whom we are indebted.

Opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the editors nor of the Tarka Rail Association

Design: Tarka Rail Association

Send articles, information, and letters for the next edition to:

Andy Hedges 20 Barton Meadow Road, High Bickington,

Umberleigh, EX37 9AN

or e-mail to andyhedges@gmail.com

Contents Author(s)

Andy Hedges John Phillips

John Phillips/Peter Craske

John Burch Tony Hill

Michael Hodge Tony Hill

John Phillips

Peter Craske

Alan Clark

Peter Craske/Alan Clark David Holdcroft

Page

1 2 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 13 14 16 18 19 20 22 23 25 28

Topic Editorial Chairman’s Report Tarka Line Profiles—Julian Crow North Devon Show Bus & Coach Report Improvement for Chapelton Happy Memories of Devon Railways Improvement for Lapford Collision at Exeter Latest Tarka Line Figures Barnstaple Improvements Happy Birthday ! Station Gardens 2010 Station Spotlight—Copplestone News from the North Network Rail Route Utilisation Strategy Update Station Footfall Figures Exploring the Line—Crediton Exeter St Davids—a Short History Membership Matters

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Editorial Welcome to another edition of the magazine. Since the last issue we have had an election! and we wait with bated breath to find out details of the path that the new administration is going to be following as regards rail. Call me cynical, but it is quite likely that the West will not fare too well in any decision making, when the whole ministerial team have constituencies in the home counties, and of the eleven members of the transport select committee, seven represent constituencies further north than Nottingham, and the rest represent those in the home counties. Add to this the pros-pect of cost cutting by local authorities and we could be looking at an un-certain future. Nevertheless this edition is full of good news on the local front, particularly that passenger numbers are still increasing, with a spectacular 19% rise on the previous year in the last recorded period. If the weather holds and we don’t have any problems, we could be looking at breaking the 400,000 barrier this year. This now begs the question of capacity, with noticeably more crowded trains now, can we cater for the increase in passengers in the longer term? Those members living in the Barnstaple area will have noticed that the question of faster journeys has raised its head again, the suggestion being that the easiest way to do this would be to cut out the intermediate stops. The assumption here appears to be that the needs of the residents of Barnstaple should take precedence over the rest of North and Mid Devon, in order to gain minutes on the journey – at best misguided, at worst self-ish! No doubt the wish would also be for a faster journey time from Exeter to London, so why not exclude Taunton, Reading and all other intermedi-ates – now there’s an idea! For those members living in areas further from the line, and there are many, don’t forget to come and see us if you can, the whole line is looking a treat (see pages 16 & 17), as is Barnstaple station (see pages 12 & 13) and the Stationmasters Café will always welcome you with refreshments. Should you pay us a visit then take a look at page 15 for a further attrac-tion. In the meantime I hope you all have a pleasant summer, and if you do visit, why not tell us about it!

Andy Hedges

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Chairman’s Report

This year we have much to celebrate!

Firstly, the end is in sight for the almost totally ghastly Class 142 pacers which, all being well, will have disappeared back to Northern Trains well before this time next year. I say almost totally because they do have two plus points – a superb view of the countryside and generous provision for cycles, albeit at the cost of far fewer seats than the Class 150s that will replace them. In fact these will have more seats than the present trains of the same class which have 2 + 2 seating (ie a double seat each side of the central aisle) as it is understood that they will retain 2 + 3 seating. It is very pleasing to note that First Great Western (FGW) were able to secure the contract for these trains before the general elec-tion which at least meant that there will be sufficient trains to operate the present level of services. However, we have expressed our concern to FGW and to government that we are very concerned that no provision has been made for additional trains to meet burgeoning demand, although FGW are well aware of the situation and are working on possible longer term solutions. No doubt Julian Crow will be able to give an update at our AGM.

Secondly, following the undoubted success of a largely hourly weekday service, there is the additional Sunday train giving an earlier arrival into both Barnstaple and Exeter and also permitting a longer day out in the countryside. There has been growing pressure for this earlier train and there can be little doubt that it will be popular and successful. Thanks are due to Devon County Council for their support, to First Great Western for organising the train and train crew and also to Network Rail for re-scheduling their inspection regime to permit this ear-lier train to run. Whilst on the question of timetabling, we continue to lobby for a later last train from Exeter and have put forward ideas on possible funding for a Friday evening service as a first step. Again, hopefully we will be able to an-nounce something positive at the AGM in October. After that it will be a matter of continuing our campaign for shorter journey times, an earlier morning train, plugging the 90 minute gaps, yet more frequency....., all associated with the housing and economic growth proposed for North Devon. Obviously these will require enhancements to the infrastructure, but, as you will read elsewhere, Net-work Rail are fully abreast of these aspirations and our wish to see the Tarka Line change from a rural branch into a secondary main line over the coming years.

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Thirdly, we now have every station except Lapford adopted by volunteers who are all entering the Station Flowers competition this year. So a big thank you to all those taking part as your efforts really are appreciated by passen-gers and also by the train crews who, on more than one occasion, have been most complimentary. It is a shame about Lapford, especially as, following campaigning by the Committee, there is now an off peak morning train into Exeter on Mondays – Saturdays. Fourthly we are still very fortunate in having some very good value fares. My relatives recently stayed with us and we went out for the day to Barnsta-ple. They were amazed when I purchased a Groupsave ticket for the four of us to travel from Morchard Road and back for just £12 or £3 each! New from July is, thanks to the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership and FGW, an exten-sion of the validity of the Mid Devon Carnet tickets to enable holders to travel to Barnstaple as well as Exeter! This will especially be of great benefit to the small number of commuters from Yeoford, Copplestone and Morchard Road who work in Barnstaple. Fifthly, there have been a significant number of improvements at Barnstaple Station as described on page 13 which create a more welcoming and practi-cal environment and interchange.

Lastly and very very provisionally, there is the outside possibility of a return of rail freight to the line and even extension towards Bideford! This is because the proposed Atlantic Array very large wind farm proposed for the Bristol Channel could be required to bring in materials and equipment by rail. If the English rather than the Welsh side is chosen for this, then the obvious stag-ing post is the site of the former power station at Yelland. Re-establishing this rail link would then bring the line tantalisingly close to Bideford but be-ware of the lessons to be learned from the Portishead case! So the line goes from strength to strength and with good weather we may even reach the magic 400,000 passengers this year. In any event, I hope that you have the opportunity to enjoy many trips along the line this summer.

John Phillips

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Tarka Line Profiles—Julian Crow

Julian Crow, First Great Western (FGW) General Manager for the West of Eng-land, will be familiar to many TRA members, and especially to those who heard him speak at out last Annual General Meeting in Barnstaple. Under his enlight-ened management, not only the Tarka Line, but community rail lines throughout the West Country have undergone a renaissance. Even before FGW were awarded the Franchise Julian twice came and spoke with the TRA Committee, on each occasion showing himself to be a thoughtful lis-tener. This was proved beyond all doubt early in his stint as West of England General Manager. In July 2005 TRA Chairman John Phillips and Devon & Rich-ard Burningham, Manager of the Cornwall Rail Partnership, visited Norfolk to study the success of the Bittern Line between Norwich and Sheringham. On their return John submitted a detailed report to Julian in which he laid out the case for fare reductions as a way to promote traffic. To his great credit Julian took this ball and ran with it, obtaining approval for cuts in local fares throughout Devon and Cornwall. Nor were the reductions insignificant: a Barnstaple – Exeter cheap day return, for example, came down from around £12.50 to £7.00. When FGW’s notorious 2006 timetable was introduced, there was a massive out-cry because, among other things, the busiest train of the day was omitted! We in the TRA were among the loudest objectors and, with the support of Julian, under-took numerous passenger counts which he was then able to use in a successful bid to achieve the reintroduction of the “missing” train. Knowing that one of TRA’s aspirations was an hourly service, Julian has worked hard both within FGW to secure the train and crew resources and with the County Council to secure financial support. As a direct result of his efforts, we now have what was unimaginable just two years ago! One more proof that this was the right decision is shown by the April 2009 passenger numbers which were no less than 32.4% up on the year before! Indeed the line now enjoys its best ever ser-vice and is carrying more passengers now than since records began! (And not just our line. The St Ives, Falmouth, Newquay, Looe and Gunnislake lines all have the best service ever -- far in excess of the service levels laid down in the Franchise.) This past May saw the introduction of the improved Sunday service for which TRA has been lobbying, and Julian is now beavering away to try and meet one of our other aspirations: a late evening train from Exeter. Our Station Flowers Competition enjoys Julian’s enthusiastic support, and de-spite the present economic difficulties he has still been able to find the money for

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FGW’s sponsorship of this event. He has also been a keen supporter of our award winning Tarka Line Walks booklet (cheerfully suffering the indignity of be-ing photographed alongside a lifesize otter at the booklet’s launch), and has been involved behind the scenes in the project to restore the Station House at Barnstaple. It could be argued that Julian is merely doing his job exceptionally well. This is true. The key difference is that he is always approachable, will always respond to any question however trivial and offers his advice freely and honestly. He gives generously of his time to keep in touch, values us as an organisation and re-spects our views. Most of all, he is a thoroughly nice person and the best sort of rail company ambassador for the Community Railways in Devon & Cornwall.

John Phillips/Peter Craske

North Devon Show This year’s North Devon show on Wednesday 4th August, from 0800 to 1800, is being held on a new site which is only about 1 mile from Umberleigh station. A special FREE bus shuttle service connecting with trains is being run for the short journey between Umberleigh Station and the showground, principally for passengers coming from the Exeter/south direction. A special bus service will run direct from Barnstaple to the showground for non-rail passengers. This is thus the only Agricultural show in the South West to be held so close to a station.With the added attraction of a free bus service it is hoped this will encour-age many people to travel by train to Umberleigh and experience this lively rural spectacle. It is planned for a Tarka Rail Association committee member to be in attendance at Umberleigh station on the day to assist passengers. Tickets cost £12 Adults, £4 children OR £10 adults, £3 children if purchased in advance from The Stationmaster's Cafe' at Barnstaple or by ringing 0845 2305177. For full details see North Devon Show website at www.northdevonshow.com.

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Bus and Coach Report Very disappointingly, despite ensuring First Devon and Cornwall were aware of the additional Sunday train, they have not seen fit to extend the second bus from Ilfracombe and the third bus from Barnstaple on service 3 to link with this train. While the 0905 journey would need to be re-timed (or diverted via the New Taw Bridge) to make the connection (thus disrupting the clock face nature of the timetable), the 1015 journey from Barnstaple could have been back extended to the station to meet early visitors to North Devon. I will continue to campaign for this journey to be modified to provide the link and thus help support the early morning Sunday bus journey.

Sadly FDC have announced that fares will be revised again shortly. This will see fares increased again, but there will at least still be benefits available from unlimited journey tickets.

This year First are operating the services to the North Devon Show at Chapelton. There will be a free minibus bus service from Umberleigh station to the showground timed to meet trains from Exeter and from Barnstaple. There will also be regular buses from Barnstaple bus station, Bideford and Torrington at a flat rate of £2.50 per person and a discount for a group of five.

Stagecoach are once again operated the special service for the Oceanfest event at Croyde at the end of June. Service 508 was registered to operate between Barnstaple Station and Croyde. There were 4 round trips each day with 3 of these extended to the station. There was also one late trip on Friday and Saturday night which did not serve the station and an extra early evening trip on Sunday which did serve the station. Unfortunately the service times at the station were as good as useless for intending customers. Only the last two bus arrivals of the day at the station made any kind of useful connection onto trains. When asked why the service failed to connect with trains I was told that the service was not designed to link with the trains. I asked why not? I was told by the individual on the other end of the phone that he didn’t know the an-swer to the question. I said that I thought this was crazy and will in due course take this further. I actually suspect I know the answer. I think that there was no intention to ex-tend the 508 to the station for the trains at all. I think that they were extended

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to avoid the need for any additional buses to stand in Belle Meadow Bus Sta-tion. There is only very limited stand capacity here and Stagecoach have al-most certainly NOT be given sanction for extra stand space. Vehicles laying over for more than 20 minutes have to leave and go elsewhere. The station is an obvious alternative. Finally the SEVERN LINK ferry operation has now been officially deferred until at least December 2010. It appears that availability of an overnight berth at Swansea has been the major issue and this seems to correspond with the commencement of the new Swansea – Cork ferry service as suspected. We have been told that apparently despite it being thought that the Swansea berth could accommodate both vessels, this has now been found not to be the case. The earliest that a berth could be found would be August and this is too late in the season for Severn Link. The company have indicated that they might be able to operate some special departures this Summer and have now recruited a Captain for their first ves-sel.

John Burch

Latest indications are that there may be financial problems, as the two ves-sels are at the moment advertised for sale. Ed

Train service improvement for Chapelton.

Whilst acknowledging that Chapelton has the smallest population and is the least used station on the N. Devon line it nevertheless deserved TRAssoc ef-forts to correct the anomally introduced in 2008 when the stop in the late after-noon train back from Barnstaple on Mondays to Saturdays was erroneously de-leted meaning no suitable service home for those going to Barnstaple on the morning train at 0759. Therefore from the Timetable introduced on 23 May the 1708 Barnstaple/Exmouth will again call at Chapelton by request.

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Happy Memories of Devon Railways My wife Jean and I are delighted to be involved with the Friends of Crediton Station despite being about 45 miles distant at Cannington near Bridgwater, also we get to sample the culinary expertise of Linda Rogers, the proprietor of the Crediton Station Tea Rooms. We fairly regularly travel the Tarka Line from Crediton and never tire of the superb scenery, (not even the rickety ride on the class 142 will put us off!); why then does this line hold so much fasci-nation for us? To answer this we must go back to 1955. On the 21st of May that year we married, and spent our honeymoon in Ilfracombe and on the advice of my fa-ther, who was very much into railway travel, we arranged to take the train from Bristol, where we then lived, to Exeter and thence the Southern route. My father explained that this route, in preference to changing at Taunton onto the Western route via Barnstaple Junction would have better timings, and on subsequent consultation of timetables for the period he was quite right, with the journey time each way being an hour shorter! After the excitement of the wedding, the reception and a noisy send off, the train journey was quite relaxing, and we soon found ourselves at Exeter St Davids and changing onto what I recollect was a through train to Ilfracombe headed by a West Country class locomotive, (probably the 5.10 pm from Exeter arriving at Ilfracombe at 7.17pm). I had used the Southern route from Exeter many times before between 1940 and 1955 as we used to visit Bude most years, however the North Devon Line was to be new to both of us. As before, I looked forward to our train nearing the bottom of the 1 in 37 incline from Exeter Central and coming past Exeter West signal Box, something that can still be experienced today, although the box is long gone! The onward journey was very comfortable – we were (unusually) travelling first class! Although all those years ago I can well remember the beautifully manicured trackside and the very tidy stations leading eventually to a very busy Barnstaple Junction, We waited here for two or three minutes and then it was off over the Taw bridge which was very impressive, but hardly seemed sturdy enough for the job. On leaving Braunton I recall the engine working very hard on the 1 in 40 gradient for the three miles between there and the station at Morthoe and Woolacombe. The run from there down to Ilfracombe was very beautiful, travelling beside the Slade reservoirs, and with glimpses of the sea. As readers will probably know, Ilfracombe station was perched

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high above the town, and looking out of the carriage window I just hoped we would stop in time! On the return journey a week later we caught the Ilfracombe portion of the At-lantic Coast Express departing at 10.30am, another delightful journey in the re-verse direction. What a great shame that this line closed when it did, consider-ing the tourist and visitor potential it would have today. Efforts were made to save the line but were ultimately unsuccessful, but at least we can still travel as far as Barnstaple, and thanks to the support of Devon County Council, the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership, and of course the committee of the Asso-ciation, the future looks bright. I hope I may be forgiven for any technical or factual errors, but it was 54 years ago!

Michael Hodge

Train Service Improvement for Lapford Lapford despite being the largest centre of population on the 'Community' rail-way between Crediton and Barnstaple has in recent years seen a steady re-duction in services for a variety of reasons, including; no residents with influ-ence through the line's user group/other decision makers (unlike Morchard Road !), the station with parking for only about 4 cars is not ideally placed for many potential village users; although there is a direct well maintained short cut footpath from the village centre down to the station. Some years ago a non subsidized local bus service was introduced from Chulmleigh to Exeter that goes through the main part of Lapford but does how-ever not serve St. Davids station and is slower than the train. With all trains,except the first from Exeter, now calling at Morchard Road it was thought that Lapford people (who had a car) would 'Railhead' to Morchard Road, but in practice only very occasionally is this the case and plans to offi-cially increase the car parking area at Morchard Road are now unable to pro-ceed due to land ownership & other constraints.

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There are some 30 new houses planned to be built close to the station on part of the old 'Ambrosia' Milk Factory ..ideally placed to encourage use of the station. All this has led to calls from some Lapford residents for a better service at their local station. Therefore TRAssoc has successfully pursued with FGW (and with support from DCC but regretably and surprisingly not from the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership) for a second morning service in the Timetable introduced on 23 May on Mondays to Saturdays to Exeter at 0914 from Lapford, to maximise the journey opportunities for potential new passengers. This has,incidentally, been achieved without increasing the overall journey time between departing Eggesford & departing Crediton (& vice versa) as most day time trains have about 4 to 5 minutes spare time on this section of the journey. However to gain this extra train at a far more useful time of the day, has meant the stop in the 2023 Barnstaple/Exeter which called at Lapford at 2054 has been deleted.

Tony Hill

Collision at Exeter Readers may recall that on 4 January 2010 at around 19:25, a passenger train from Barnstaple arriving in platform 1 at Exeter St Davids station col-lided with the rear of another passenger train which was stationary in the platform. The driver of the train from Barnstaple had applied the brakes to stop behind the other train, but the train did not stop and a collision oc-curred at a speed of approximately 11 mph (18 km/h). The collision caused injuries to six passengers and three members of staff. Four passengers were taken to hospital although none of them were detained. Both trains suffered minor damage. After a full investigation The Rail Accident Report has now been published, and can be accessed on line at: http://www.raib.gov.uk/publications/investigation_reports/reports_2010/report102010.cfm

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Barnstaple Station Improvements Regular users of Barnstaple Station will have seen a number of improve-ments carried out recently all of which are designed to improve passenger and interchange facilities. The construction of the Western By-pass was the start of the process with the construction of the new car park, bus only link road and taxi rank all forming an integral part of the road scheme. Under their Franchise, First Great Western (FGW) were committed to improving the toilet facilities, in-cluding provision for disabled persons. They were also to enhance access for people with physical and aural disabilities. Consequently, the station has been equipped with a hearing loop equipped low level ticket counter, signifi-cantly improved toilets, including a new one for disabled people, automatic entrance doors to the Ticket office and new waiting room seats. At an early date it was agreed that the Station should revert to heritage green and cream and this colour scheme has been applied to the ticket of-fice/waiting room. At around the same time Mike Day opened The Station-masters Cafe as part of a wider refurbishment of the long semi-derelict for-mer Stationmaster’s House. As well as the popular and well used Cafe, the conversion also includes a much needed Conference Room on the 1st floor. The Cafe also has electronic bus and train departure information The Tarka Rail Association have taken the redundant Platform 2 on licence from Network Rail and are working towards improving its appearance through weed control and, later, selective replanting and floral displays. Next to be tackled were the bus stops. The construction of the link road re-sulted in a number of bus services calling at the railway Station, including most importantly the Stagecoach services to Bideford and other destina-tions. The existing bus shelter was life expired and no shelter was provided for people waiting for the all important link to the Town Centre. Provision of two smart new shelters and lettered bus stops has considerably enhanced the waiting environment for interchanging bus passengers with full timetable information. More recently the area in front of the station entrance was enlarged to im-prove circulation space, to remove a trip hazard and to improve drainage. The platform has been extended to provide more waiting space, including the provision of a covered cycle shelter and additional benches.

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Finally, replica green directional signs have been provided in heritage style to complement the green and cream colour scheme. All signing has been re-placed and this has drawn together all the elements described above. Just one job remains and that is some painting work which the Tarka Rail Asso-ciation will be carrying out in September after the peak summer season. All of this work would not have been possible without the work and joint fund-ing of FGW and Devon County Council, the active involvement of Mike Day and the Tarka Rail Association and the support of the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership. Together they have achieved remarkable improvements to this increasingly busy station in true Community Railway style.

John Phillips

In addition a new waiting shelter has recently been installed at Eggesford, and work is continuing to install new help points along the line as described in the last issue. Ed

To celebrate the 3rd anniversary of the opening of the Station Masters Cafe at Barnstaple, TRA members with a valid membership card with them on Thurs-day August 12th 2010 will receive a complimentary “drink in” hot drink of their choice.

Mike Day

Happy Birthday !

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While you are in Barnstaple taking advantage of the free drink offer oppo-site, why not take a look at the Heritage Centre as detailed above, it is well worth a visit.

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Station Garden Competition 2010 After much hard work at individual stations, and concerns over the continuing spell of hot weather, judging for this year’s competition took place on Monday 12th July. Judging was carried out by:

Jason Ness - FGW Customer Relations specialist team. Neil Hobden - Network Rail infrastructure maintenance engineer Plymouth. Lorraine Mayall - Network Rail section planner Newton Abbott. Councillor Faye Webber - North Devon District Councillor and Railway Liaison.

The results of the judging were as follows:

Best overall station Yeoford Best flower bed Chapelton Best planted container Newton St Cyres Best flowers/wildlife Umberleigh Best kept station Barnstaple

Our thanks go to all those who took part and made such efforts to ensure that once again this year we have a line whose environment is one to be proud of .

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A small sample of stations along the line ready for this year’s station garden competition judging.

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Station Spotlight—Copplestone Situated some 110 metres above sea level, Copplestone is both the highest point on the line and the peninsula watershed, all rivers along the line to the south draining eventually into the Exe, and those to the north winding their way towards the Bristol Channel. The station also marked the furthest point from Exeter to which a double row of track was once provided. This twin track, laid in 1883, remained in operation for 88 years. In 1889 a watertank was installed at the south end of the "up" platform to supply thirsty steam locomotives. The surrounding population fell by some 45% between 1871 and 1971, but has since increased dramatically with a number of new hous-ing estates appearing in Copplestone since the start of the present century. In common with several stations along the Tarka Line, Copplestone in its heyday sported cattlepens and a slaughterhouse at the northern end of the down platform, and both five- and two-tonne cranes. Apart from the occasional thatched cottage, most of Copplestone’s housing is no earlier than mid-19th Century -- evidence of the dramatic effect of the Exeter-Barnstaple Turnpike (1828-1831) and the railway (1851) upon a quiet rural hamlet. The transportation revolution, which placed Copplestone so firmly on the commercial map, spelled hard times for many neighbouring villages. To the east, Newbuildings and Morchard Bishop, staging posts along the old Exeter-Barnstaple coach road, watched helplessly as their populations dwindled. To the south, Coleford -- a place of modest impor-tance on the Bow-Crediton turnpike -- witnessed first the rerouting of the main Crediton road via Copplestone and Clannaborough and then the build-ing of the railway a few yards away. Denied a station of its own Coleford, like its hilltop sister Colebrooke, settled back into the quiet rural existence they had known for centuries. Copplestone, beneficiary of the 19th Century’s smart commercial money, is not without antiquities of its own. Turn left outside the station, left again at the main road and follow the Exeter-bound traffic over the bridge into the village to reach the 10th Century (or earlier) Copple Stone from which the village takes its name. The stone marked the boundary of three parishes: Crediton, Colebrooke and Down St. Mary. The derivation of the name cop-ple is in some dispute. It has been argued that it derives from the Saxon word copelan meaning to move or rock (something, apart from a reposition-ing in the 1960s to accommodate traffic flow, the stone has not done in re-corded memory). Others note that copple simply means “to come to a point.” (Since the top of the shaft -- and the cross piece -- are lost, this hy-

21

pothesis must also be taken on trust!) Five other Devon cross shafts of similar date may be seen at Exeter Museum, Chulmleigh, Colyton, Dolton and Sidbury. If you turn right at the end of the station approach road and very carefully follow the main road a short distance in the Barnstaple direction, you’ll come across a period cottage on the right -- the boyhood home of Ernest Bevin (1881-1951). This locally educated child of an impoverished single mother went on to become co-founder of the Transport & General Workers’ Union (1921), a respected Minis-ter of Labour in Churchill’s wartime cabinet and Clement Atlee’s Foreign Secre-tary. The mills on the west side of the A377 are one of the U.K’s leading distribution points for bird seed. There is limited parking at the station, and a shop, post of-fice and pub (of sorts) in the village.

Peter Craske

News from the North It’s been over a year since I left First Great Western and is approaching the first anniversary of our move to Kirkby Stephen station in chilly Cumbria. Time has really flown by, and we now have the opportunity to take on the lease for the whole of the station building. The plan is that by the autumn we will have a Re-freshment Room plus railway shop in the former waiting room, extra office space, and a self-catering flat. So if ever you fancy staying in unsurpassed walking country and/or watching 2,000-tonne coal trains struggle up the grade right out-side the window, then do please let me know! Our photo-design and consultancy business (Imagerail) is flourishing, but the reason for contacting you now is a slightly unusual spin-off from this. The annual ‘Three Peaks Challenge’ at the end of June saw teams of rail staff making the journey around the country by special train, but it occurred to me that it was not easy for people who didn’t know anyone taking part to get involved. So the idea is to sponsor the special loco that hauled the train instead. If you would like to help the Railway Children charity in this way, then do please go to www.justgiving.com/67014ThomasTelford. Thankyou for your support. I hope all is well in the Westcountry. best wishes,

Andrew Griffths

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Network Rail Great Western Route Utilisation Strategy

March 2010 Update The Great Western Route Utilisation Strategy has now been finalised and was launched on the 1st March 2010 at 12:00. Of relevance to the Tarka line the following items were included:

1. Additional morning Sunday train subject to external funding.

This has now been confirmed and will be in the new timetable from the 23rd May.

2. Hourly service from Barnstaple to Exmouth to enable cross city journeys. This is instead of the proposed Barnstaple to St James’ Park service.

3. Paignton to St James service to start in 2016 and not 2018 as originally proposed.

4. Acknowledgement of 74% passenger growth on Tarka line since 2001.The latest line journey figures show a 50% in-crease since 2007.

5. Stations should form transport and community hubs. 6. There will be a reducing basis for future branch line block-

ades. The last blockade was less than a week compared to the 2 x 10 Monday to Friday blockades we have been used to.

7. Barnstaple to Exmouth and Exeter to Plymouth could benefit from train lengthening in peak periods. This will be reviewed as part of the First Great Western High Level Output State-ment (HLOS).

8. There will be a forthcoming Station Route Utilisation Strategy. 9. Demand on the Tarka line will be influenced by rail partner-

ships and the Community Rail Plan 10. There are seasonal fluctuations in Devon and Cornwall. 11. A further review of Devon and Cornwall branch lines may be

required to improve infrastructure, connectivity, capacity and journey times.

12. The maximum infrastructure cost which could be supported for each minute of journey time saving on the Tarka Line with a Benefit Cost Ratio of 2 is £1.1 million.

23

13. Rail demand for Plymouth and Exeter is likely to equate that of Bristol in the short to medium term.

14. Eggesford is in the top 15 of locations for reactionary delay with a delay per train of 6.65 minutes. It is on a list of proposals to im-prove this situation.

15. Development of heavy rail to deliver spatial growth and meet congestion targets is proposed for Exeter and Plymouth.

16. There are connectivity issues between and across Exeter and Plymouth.

17. The following lines are included in a list in Section G as a stake-holder aspiration for line reinstatement: .Bideford to Barnstaple and Exeter-Okehampton-Plymouth.

Trivia facts in the report include the fact that the loop length at Eggesford is 186 metres and that Chapleton (120 passengers per annum) & Newton St Cyres (889 passengers per annum) are in the top 10 of least used stations in RUS area in 2007/08. Coombe Halt on the Looe line was the least used (32 passen-gers per annum).

Alan Clark

Annual General Meeting 2010

Please don’t forget that the group’s AGM is to be held on :

Thursday 7th October

at Barnstaple Town Station (now part of Pathfield School) at

6.00 pm for 6.30 pm start

We shall be pleased to see as many existing members as possible on the night, and will be especially pleased to wel-come any new members.

24

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25

Exploring the Line (6) - Crediton

Putting Greens & Peacocks. Circular walk to Hookway. 3.3 miles. The shortest walk in the series and one of the least demanding. The Credi-ton Station tea-rooms provide an excellent end-of-walk reward for children. Facilities: Pubs and shops in Crediton; Tea-rooms [closed Sundays] at Crediton station. Leave the station by the “down” (Barnstaple departures) platform, and im-mediately turn left opposite the carpark to follow the railway line away from the level crossing and past a small industrial estate in the direction of Exe-ter. The road ends at a footpath which veers right and enters the mani-cured grounds of Downes Crediton Golf Course. A well marked footpath leads across the golf course and over the River Yeo at the brick-sided Kers-ford Bridge. Dippers may sometimes be glimpsed along the banks of the river. Turn half left on the far side of the bridge and make for a large wooden pole supporting a power line in the middle of the fairway across from the Club House. From this pole the path leads around the left hand edge of a small lake and then skirts the edge of Hookway Down wood, just to the left, before reaching a lane. Turn left into this lane, still keeping the wood on your left. Ignore the lane that branches off to the right, but con-tinue ahead and uphill between high earthen banks. Just beyond the steep-est portion of the ascent, keep an eye out for a footpath sign in the right-hand hedgerow giving onto a track. Turn right onto this track and follow it gradually uphill. There are pleasant views to the East. Some 300 metres beyond the crest of the hill, be aware of a small community below the track to your right. At a misleading sign on the left of the track, turn right down a green lane, which can be muddy after rain, and descend steeply to reach Hookway Farm, nestling in a little valley. Just beyond the farm there is a crossroads of sorts. At this junction, turn left past Glover Cottage, and through a gate. Keep the hedge on your right as you proceed uphill to reach Rudge Farm, a pleasant brick-built Georgian farmhouse. In addition to noisy dogs and chickens, the farm has an active dovecote and some highly decorative peacocks. Note the wheel extending through the barn wall, which in years gone by would have been connected by a canvas belt to a steam traction engine parked outside to provide power for such major jobs as threshing or log sawing. Beyond Rudge, the foot-

26

path veers right and continues along a pleasant track offering fine views to reach a lane. Turn right into the lane and follow it mostly downhill for 0.6 miles to reach a crossroads [Fordton Cross]. Continue ahead at the crossroads, passing Fordton House and its carefully maintained gardens to your left immediately before recrossing the River Yeo at Fordton Bridge. Note the cutwaters set into the bridge’s upstream side both to enable the piers of the bridge to slice easily into the current in much the same way as the bow of a ship, and to provide a refuge for pedestrians. Just upstream from the bridge there is a pleasant weir and the river bottom between the weir and the bridge has been beautifully surfaced with stone. Downstream are the old Fordton Mills, which once produced rough cotton sailcloth and coarse linens -- something of a departure for Crediton, whose chief commercial claim to fame until the late 18th Century was as a woollen town and a centre for the manufacture of woollen serge. Note that immediately beyond the old bridge are two modern “land arches” -- additional openings built over the water meadow to relieve pressure on the old bridge in time of flood. Modest cutwaters have also been provided on the modern section, both on the up- and (purely for decorative purposes) down-stream sides. From the bridge, Crediton station lies 0.2 miles directly ahead. The Station Tearoom’s baked items, with the exception of scones, are all made on the premises. Traditional Devon junket with nutmeg and clotted cream is usually available. There are also some interesting old photographs and a small model railway exhibit.

Peter Craske

Crediton Museum A Museum and Heritage Centre has opened in the Old Town Hall in Credi-ton High Street, it is open from 1000 to 1600 on Wednesdays to Fridays and 1000 to 1300 on Saturdays. The Publicity Officer is George Palin, a member of TRAssoc & Friends of Crediton Station, so if you have the chance go along and visit.

27

Exeter St Davids—a short history

St David’s station opened as the terminus of the Bristol and Exeter Railway on May 1st 1844. Though the B&ER was an independent company the GWR was closely involved in its activities. Its engineer Brunel built the line, which was broad gauge, and for the first 3 years of its life the B&ER leased engines from it. So it was a GWR engine, the Orion, which pulled the train bringing guests from London to the gala opening for 900 people. The train was driven by Daniel Gooch, who though only 27, was the Locomotive Superintendant for GWR, and so responsible for the design of its engines. Remarkably it took only 5 hours to travel 194 miles, including stops for water and presuma-bly coke. This set a standard, and from March 1845 there was a daily five hour train from Exeter to Paddington, including stops and a compulsory re-freshment break at Swindon. Indeed, between 1847 and 1852 the 9.50 from Paddington ‘The Flying Dutchman’ was probably the fastest train in the world.

The original station, which was built to Brunel’s design on a 19 acre site, had separate arrival and departure platforms on the eastern side of the station, so that passengers did not have to cross the track. At that time it was situated outside the city boundaries, because the City Corporation had refused per-mission for the company to cross them. How inconvenient that was from the point of view of goods handling one can only speculate. However, the Corpo-ration’s refusal at the same time to allow the company access to Exeter Docks seems to have been unwise. One of the attractions of a line to Exeter

A Bristol and Exeter Railway 4-2-4T in 1876 outside St David's engine shed. (copyright Exeter Memories)

28

for Bristol merchants was access to the docks, creating a much shorter and less hazardous route to the continent. But having to unload goods from the train at St David’s on to horse drawn vehicles must have increased costs making this prospect less attractive, and the decline of the docks has been dated from this time. The Corporation eventually changed its mind, but not until 1867.

The first major extension, to Plymouth, was undertaken by the South Devon Railway between 1846 and 1849. Again the engineer was Brunel, who built a single track broad gauge line following a coastal route, which avoided hillier alternatives and reduced costs, at lest initially. He also believed that costs would be reduced further by the construction of an atmospheric railway, and persuaded the directors of the company to let him go ahead. There were precedents, since it had been tried in Croydon, Paris and Ireland. ‘The idea was simple. A long tube would be built between a series of pumping stations. As air was pumped out at one end, so a piston would be pushed along by the air pressure at the opposite end. A flange at the top of the piston poked through a slit in the tube which elsewhere was kept closed by a flexible flap. Attach trucks and coaches to the flange and you had a transport sys-tem.’ (Burton, p.73) Between September 1847 and September 1848 passen-ger carrying trains operated first to Teignmouth and later to Newton Abbot. Since they had no locomotive they were quiet and were apparently surpris-ingly reliable to begin with. However, the hard winter of 1848 created severe problems; amongst other things, the ‘flexible flap’ made of leather proved at-tractive to rats. Costs mounted, they were 7d a mile more than a conventional railway, and the directors decided to abandon the experiment, the failure of which resulted in financial difficulties for the company for many years.

The second extension was undertaken by the Exeter and Crediton Railway in 1851. Though nominally independent the company was controlled by the London and South Western Railway which was committed to standard gauge. However, because the L&SWR had no direct access to the line it was leased to the B&ER and opened as a broad gauge line. The extension to Barnstaple opened in 1854 after a battle about the gauge to be used, and was extended to Bideford a year later. But though the L&SWR controlled the new, line it had to wait until 1862 to obtain access to it. In 1860 it completed the extension of its line from Yeovil to Exeter, and opened its own station in Queen Street (now Exeter Central) which was much more conveniently situ-ated than Exeter St David’s. Two years later a connection down a 1 in 37 de-scent to Exeter St David’s was completed. The L&SWR then took over the lease of the Exeter and Crediton Railway and commenced through running on mixed gauge track. Eventually this enabled it to open its own line to Ply-mouth via Okehampton, so that its trains to Plymouth were passed by GWR trains going in the opposite direction to the same destination.

29

As a result of the expansion, bringing with it a mixture of gauges, Brunel’s original design was inadequate, and even if that had not been so, the GWR had a motive to upgrade its station which was now in competition with the much more conveniently situated Queen Street. In 1864 a new station was opened. Designed by Henry Lloyd and Francis Fox it had four platforms partly covered by an overall roof 132ft wide and 363 ft long – the biggest in the country. The magnificent façade was built in Bath stone, but later addi-tions together with the conversion of the grassed space in front into a car park make it difficult if not impossible to appreciate now. Between 1911 and 1914 the station was completely rebuilt in its present form, and the overall roof was replaced by platform canopies; however, the 1864 façade was re-tained. Over 28,000 passengers passed through the station in July 1914. If that seems modest by modern standards, it has to be remembered that as well as an important engine depot, which has been retained, there were ex-tensive goods yards handling large volumes of agricultural and stone prod-ucts in particular.

Perhaps the First World War did not have a big effect on traffic, because the centre of gravity of the battlegrounds was in northern France. But because of the concentration of forces in the South West in the build up to the Normandy Landings in the Second World War, there was a big increase in military traf-fic, and major extensions to the goods yards took place. Civilian traffic de-clined of course – was your journey really necessary? However, it revived af-ter the war, particularly in the summer season, reaching a peak in 1958; and because holidays were not staggered, as many as 30,000 visitors travelled through St David’s to Torbay on each of two peak Saturdays.

After the total loss of the goods yards, and a decline in passenger traffic, re-cent years have seen an impressive growth in passenger numbers. St David’s is now the busiest station in Devon, and handles ten times the num-ber of passengers it did in 1914.

David Holdcroft

Sources:

The Railway Builders; A. Burton,

West from Paddington; S. Cole,

Great Western Railway Stations, vol. iv; C.R. Potts,

The Great Western Railway: 150 glorious years; eds. P. Whitehouse & D. St John Thomas,

www.exetermemories.co.uk

30

Membership Matters

If you know someone who you think might like to join the Tarka Rail Association, please contact the Membership Secretary whose ad-dress is shown opposite.

New Members

We welcome:

Mr D Horan Exeter Mrs D Kulpa Falmouth

Mr J Richardson Dawes Exeter Mr P Stanford Chippenham

Mrs J & Mr R Alderman Barnstaple Mr T Sanders Bideford

Committee Meetings (Members Welcome)

Wednesday 21st July– Fox & Hounds Eggesford 19.00

Wednesday 18th August—Rising Sun Umberleigh 19.00

Wednesday 22nd September—Fox & Hounds Eggesford 19.00

Thursday October 7th—AGM, details on page 21

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Committee Members Chairman:

John Phillips Higher Living Farmhouse, Down St Mary, Crediton, Devon, EX17 6EA. j.phillips142@btinternet.com

Treasurer:

Andy Hedges 20 Barton Meadow Road, High Bickington, Umberleigh Devon, EX37 9AN. andyhedges@gmail.com

Press And Publicity Officer:

Peter Craske Blackhall Cottage, South Tawton, Devon EX20 2LP pcbcraske@yahoo.com

Bus & Coach Liaison: John Burch Avercombe, 28 Belmont Road Ilfracombe Devon EX34 8DR johnaburch@btinternet.com

Secretary & Vice Chairman: Tony Hill Langridge, Ingleigh Green, Winkleigh. Devon, EX19 8AT tonyandlizhill@googlemail.com

Membership Secretary:

Andy Hedges 20 Barton Meadow Road, High Bickington, Umberleigh Devon, EX37 9AN. andyhedges@gmail.com

Magazine Editor:

Andy Hedges 20 Barton Meadow Road, High Bickington, Umberleigh, Devon EX37 9AN andyhedges@gmail.com

Stations Officer:

Janet Day Station Masters House Barnstaple Station, Station Road Barnstaple Devon EX31 2AU

Web Site: David Holdcroft 33 Round Table Meet Exeter EX4 8LG davidholdcroft1@virginmedia.com

Committee Members:

Alan Clark Benslee, Morchard Road, Crediton, Devon EX17 5LR Mike Day Station Masters House, Barnstaple Station, Station Road, Barnstaple, Devon EX31 2AU

32 © Authors And Publishers, Tarka Rail Association, 2010