Bere Ferrers railway station

Bere Ferrers
Bere Ferrers
	Former station building and signal box
General information
Location	Bere Ferrers, West Devon ; England
Coordinates	50°27′00″N4°10′52″W / 50.450°N 4.181°W
Grid reference	SX452635
Managed by	Great Western Railway
Platforms	1
Other information
Station code	BFE
Classification	DfT category F2
Passengers
2018/19	16,108

Last updated December 15, 2023

The station was the scene of a fatal railway accident on 24 September 1917. Ten soldiers from New Zealand were being transported from Plymouth to Salisbury following their arrival in Britain. At Bere Ferrers station they alighted from their troop train for a brief rest (on the wrong side of the train, between the tracks) and, being unaccustomed to British railways, were struck and killed by an oncoming express. The men are buried in a Plymouth war cemetery, and a plaque was unveiled in 2001 in their memory in the village centre.^[5]^[6]

Services

Bere Ferrers is served by GWR trains on the Tamar Valley Line from Gunnislake to Plymouth. Connections with main line services can be made at Plymouth.^[7] There are nine services each way calling on weekdays, eight on Saturdays and either five or six on a Sunday (depending on the time of year).

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
St Budeaux Victoria Road		Great Western Railway Tamar Valley Line		Bere Alston

Heritage Centre

The sidings alongside the station form the Tamar Belle Heritage Centre. This includes some old carriages which are used as a restaurant and as camping coaches.^[8] The LSWR signal box was erected here in 1989/90 but was formerly at Pinhoe railway station on the outskirts of Exeter.

Community railway

The railway from Plymouth to Gunnislake is designated as a community railway and is supported by marketing provided by the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership. The line is promoted under the "Tamar Valley Line" name.

The Olde Plough Inn takes part in the Tamar Valley Line rail ale trail, which is designed to promote the use of the line.^{[ may be outdated as of March 2022 ]} The line is also part of the Dartmoor Sunday Rover network of integrated bus and rail routes.^{[ may be outdated as of March 2022 ]}

Related Research Articles

The Tamar is a river in south west England that forms most of the border between Devon and Cornwall. A part of the Tamar Valley is a World Heritage Site due to its historic mining activities.

The Tamar Valley Line is a railway line from Plymouth, Devon, to Gunnislake, Cornwall, in England, also known as the Gunnislake branch line. The line follows the River Tamar for much of its route. Like all railway lines in Devon and Cornwall, it is unelectrified and all trains are diesel powered. The entire line is single track past St. Budeaux Junction.

Bere Alston is a village in West Devon in the county of Devon in England. It forms part of the civil parish of Bere Ferrers.

Bere Ferrers, sometimes called Beerferris, is a village and civil parish on the Bere peninsula in West Devon in the English county of Devon. It is located to the north of Plymouth, on the west bank of the River Tavy. It has a railway station on the Tamar Valley Line.

Plymouth railway station serves the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. It is on the northern edge of the city centre, close to the North Cross roundabout. It is the second busiest station in the county of Devon and the largest of the six surviving stations in Plymouth.

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 reach Plymouth more conveniently than before.

Devonport railway station serves the Devonport area of Plymouth in Devon, England. It is 248 miles 28 chains (399.7 km) from London Paddington measured via Box and Plymouth Millbay. It is managed by Great Western Railway.

Dockyard railway station is a Great Western Railway suburban station on the Cornish Main Line in Devonport, Plymouth, England. As the name implies, it serves Devonport Dockyard. It is 248 miles 60 chains (400.3 km) from London Paddington via Box and Plymouth Millbay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keyham railway station</span> Railway station in Devon, England

Keyham railway station is a suburban station in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. It is 249 miles 25 chains (401.2 km) from London Paddington via Box and Plymouth Millbay. The station is close to the Devonport dockyard.

St Budeaux Victoria Road railway station is a suburban station in St Budeaux, Plymouth, Devon, England. The station is managed and served by Great Western Railway.

Umberleigh railway station serves the village of Umberleigh in Devon, England. It is on the Tarka Line to Barnstaple, 33 miles 22 chains (53.6 km) from Exeter Central at milepost 205.75 from London Waterloo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bere Alston railway station</span> Railway station in Devon, England

Bere Alston railway station serves the village of Bere Alston in Devon, England, 10+1⁄4 miles (16.5 km) north of Plymouth on the Tamar Valley Line to Gunnislake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calstock railway station</span> Railway station in Cornwall, England

Calstock railway station is an unstaffed railway station on the Tamar Valley Line serving the village of Calstock in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated at the north end of Calstock Viaduct which carries the railway at high level over the River Tamar.

Gunnislake railway station serves the village of Gunnislake in Cornwall, England. There are also connecting buses from here to the town of Tavistock. However the station is located in or nearer to the villages of Drakewalls and Albaston. It is the northern terminus of the Tamar Valley Line from Plymouth.

Chudleigh railway station was a railway station in Chudleigh, a small town in Devon, England located between the towns of Newton Abbot and Exeter.

The Exeter to Plymouth railway of the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) was the westernmost part of a route competing with that of the Great Western Railway (GWR) and its 'associated companies' from London and Exeter to Plymouth in Devon, England. Whereas the GWR route from Exeter followed the coast to Newton Abbot and then went around the southern edge of Dartmoor, the LSWR route followed the northern and western margins of Dartmoor, passing through the towns of Crediton, Okehampton, and Tavistock.

This article describes the history and operation of the railway routes west of Salisbury built by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) and allied companies, which ultimately became part of the Southern Railway in the United Kingdom. Salisbury forms a natural boundary between the Southern Railway core routes in the counties surrounding London, and the long route connecting with the Devon and Cornwall lines.

The network of railways in Plymouth, Devon, England, was developed by companies affiliated to two competing railways, the Great Western Railway and the London and South Western Railway. At their height two main lines and three branch lines served 28 stations in the Plymouth area, but today just six stations remain in use.

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 13 miles (21 km) to the south.

References

↑ Quick 2022, p. 77.
↑ Grant 2017, p. 450.
↑ McRae 1997, p. 33.
↑ McRae 1998, p. 59.
↑ "Memorial Unveiled for Kiwi Soldiers". BBC Devon News. 2001. Retrieved 26 November 2007.
↑ "Bere Ferrers Station Accident-1917". Waymarking.com. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
↑ Table 137 National Rail timetable, May 2023
↑ "Welcome to the Tamar Belle". Tamar Belle. Retrieved 30 October 2019.

Bibliography

Grant, Donald J. (2017). Directory of the Railway Companies of Great Britain (1st ed.). Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire: Troubador Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-78803-768-6.
McRae, Andrew (1997). British Railway Camping Coach Holidays: The 1930s & British Railways (London Midland Region). Vol. Scenes from the Past: 30 (Part One). Foxline. ISBN 1-870119-48-7.
McRae, Andrew (1998). British Railways Camping Coach Holidays: A Tour of Britain in the 1950s and 1960s. Vol. Scenes from the Past: 30 (Part Two). Foxline. ISBN 1-870119-53-3.
Quick, Michael (2022) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (PDF). version 5.04. Railway & Canal Historical Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 November 2022.

External links

The Tamar Belle, a visitor centre based in the old station building.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[FOOTNOTEQuick202277-1] Quick 2022, p. 77.

[FOOTNOTEGrant2017450-2] Grant 2017, p. 450.

[FOOTNOTEMcRae199733-3] McRae 1997, p. 33.

[FOOTNOTEMcRae199859-4] McRae 1998, p. 59.

[5] "Memorial Unveiled for Kiwi Soldiers". BBC Devon News. 2001. Retrieved 26 November 2007.

[6] "Bere Ferrers Station Accident-1917". Waymarking.com. Retrieved 31 May 2010.

[7] Table 137 National Rail timetable, May 2023

[8] "Welcome to the Tamar Belle". Tamar Belle. Retrieved 30 October 2019.

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]