Bow | |
|---|---|
 Bow railway station in 1970 | |
| General information | |
| Location | Bow, Mid Devon England |
| Platforms | 2 |
| Other information | |
| Status | Disused |
| History | |
| Original company | London and South Western Railway |
| Pre-grouping | Southern Railway |
| Key dates | |
| 1865 | Opened |
| 5 June 1972 | Closed to passengers |
Bow railway station was a railway station serving the village of Bow and the hamlet of Nymet Tracy in Devon. Bow lies about 8 miles west of Crediton.
The station was originally opened by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) in 1865. [1] The station building is a two-storey construction of Dartmoor granite with ashlar dressings and round headed windows. The platform canopy has cast iron brackets with a creeper design. There is also a single-storey waiting room and offices. [2]
Services on the line were extended further west to Lydford railway station with the inauguration of Meldon Viaduct in 1874. Constructed to rival the South Devon Railway route to Plymouth, the completion of the LSWR's own route to Plymouth saw this line become an important route with lines to Padstow and Bude as well as Plymouth. Boat trains carrying passengers from ocean liners calling at Stonehouse Pool, Plymouth and prestige services such as the Atlantic Coast Express and Devon Belle all used the route.
Following publication of the Beeching Report in 1963, the Exeter to Plymouth Line was cut back to Okehampton in 1968. The line was singled on 17 October 1971. [3]
Bow, North Tawton, Sampford Courtenay and Okehampton lost their regular passenger services from 1972. The line survived, however, for the purposes of freight thanks to the activities of the British Rail ballast quarry at Meldon, three miles from Okehampton, which had an output of 300,000 tons per year. The quarry survived until the 2000s, operated by Aggregate Industries. British American Railway Services, a new company created by Iowa Pacific Holdings of Chicago, became the new owner of the Dartmoor line on 4 September 2008. The company sought to develop freight, passenger and tourist services on the railway. [4] Subsequently infrastructure ownership transferred to Network Rail and on 20 November 2021 regular passenger services between Exeter and Okehampton resumed, operated by Great Western Railway. [5] Crediton is the only intermediate stop on that service.
The Dartmoor Railway formerly proposed to restore the interchange at Yeoford, running passenger trains past Bow, where its line meets Great Western Railway's Tarka Line.
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Okehampton is a town and civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. It is situated at the northern edge of Dartmoor, and had a population of 5,922 at the 2011 census. Two electoral wards are based in the town. Their joint population at the same census was 7,500.
The Dartmoor line is a 15+1⁄2-mile (24.9 km) railway line in Devon, England. From Crediton, the line runs alongside the Tarka Line to the site of the former Coleford Junction where it diverges west to Okehampton. Previously a heritage line, it is owned by Network Rail.
The West of England line is a British railway line from Basingstoke, Hampshire, to Exeter St Davids in Devon, England. Passenger services run between London Waterloo station and Exeter; the line intersects with the Wessex Main Line at Salisbury. Despite its historic title, it is not today's principal route from London to the West of England: Exeter and everywhere further west are reached more quickly from London Paddington via the Reading–Taunton 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 1851 from Exeter to Crediton and in 1854 the line was completed through to Barnstaple. The line was taken over by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) in 1865 and later became part of the Southern Railway and then British Rail. In 2001, following privatisation, Wessex Trains introduced the name Tarka Line after the eponymous character in Henry Williamson's book Tarka the Otter. The line was transferred to First Great Western in 2006.
Exeter St Davids railway station is the principal and largest railway station in Exeter, also the busiest station in Devon.
Crediton railway station is a railway station serving the town of Crediton in Devon, England. It is 7 miles 76 chains (12.8 km) from Exeter Central at milepost 179.25 from London Waterloo.
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.
Okehampton railway station is a terminus railway station on the Dartmoor line serving the town of Okehampton in Devon, England. The station closed to regular traffic in 1972, but heritage and occasional mainline services ran from 1997 to 2019. Regular railway services resumed in November 2021.
Yeoford railway station is a rural station serving the village of Yeoford in Devon, England. It is on the Tarka Line to Barnstaple, 11 miles 42 chains (18.5 km) from Exeter Central at milepost 183 from London Waterloo.
The South Devon and Tavistock Railway linked Plymouth with Tavistock in Devon; it opened in 1859. It was extended by the Launceston and South Devon Railway to Launceston, in Cornwall in 1865. It was a broad gauge line but from 1876 also carried the standard gauge trains of the London and South Western Railway between Lydford and Plymouth: a third rail was provided, making a mixed gauge. In 1892 the whole line was converted to standard gauge only.
The North Devon Railway was a railway company which operated a line from Cowley Bridge Junction, near Exeter, to Bideford in Devon, England, later becoming part of the London and South Western Railway's system. Originally planned as a broad gauge feeder to the Bristol & Exeter Railway, it became part of a battle between the broad gauge group and the standard gauge railway interests. In this context, standard gauge lines were often described as narrow gauge.
The Okehampton–Bude line was a railway line built to serve Holsworthy in Devon, and Bude on the Cornish coast near the Devon border in England. The line branched from the main line at Meldon Junction to the west of Okehampton on the northern edge of Dartmoor. The line opened in 1879 to Holsworthy and in 1898 to Bude. It is now closed.
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.
Sampford Courtenay railway station is a disused railway station at Belstone Corner, which used to serve the nearby village of Sampford Courtenay in Devon. The village lies 3 minutes away by car or around 30 minutes by foot via the B3215. In 2018–19 it was the least used station in Devon and in the South West and the tenth least used station in Great Britain. In 2020-21 it was the joint least used station in Great Britain with zero passengers.
North Tawton railway station was a railway station serving the town of North Tawton in Devon, England. North Tawton lies on the River Taw.
The Turnchapel Branch was a London and South Western Railway (LSWR) single track branch railway line in Devon, England, that ran from Plymouth Friary station to Turnchapel. It crossed the River Plym and opened up the east side of the river to rail connections. The short line opened in 1892 and 1897 (throughout). It closed in 1951 to passengers, and in 1961 completely.
Meldon Viaduct railway station was a railway station at Meldon in Devon. It was renamed in 2015 from Meldon Quarry railway station.
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 (LSWR). It was privatised in 1994.
Meldon Viaduct is a disused railway viaduct crossing the West Okement River at Meldon, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south-west of Okehampton, on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon, South West England. This truss bridge was constructed from wrought iron, instead of stone or brick arches. It opened in 1874 for a single track; in 1879 its width was doubled for a second track. Although regular services were withdrawn in 1968, the bridge was used for shunting by a local quarry. In the 1990s the remaining single track was removed.
The Devon Metro is the name given to the urban railway network in Exeter and its environs, which since 2011 has been undergoing a metroisation scheme by Devon County Council to provide a rapid transit-style service through incremental upgrades to the existing system. This includes increasing the frequency of trains on existing lines, opening new lines and stations, and improving integration between lines and other modes of transport. Through these upgrades the network is to gradually become a "turn-up-and-go" service without having to refer to a timetable, like more conventional metro systems.
