Halwill Junction | |
---|---|
General information | |
Location | Halwill Junction, Torridge England |
Grid reference | SS443000 |
Platforms | 4 (2 through and 2 bay) |
Other information | |
Status | Disused |
History | |
Pre-grouping | LSWR (1879-1923) and NCR (1886-1923) |
Post-grouping | SR (1923-48) and NDCJR (1925 to 1948) [1] BR (1948 to 1966) |
Key dates | |
20 January 1879 | Opened (Beaworthy) |
July 1879 | Renamed (Halwill and Beaworthy) |
21 July 1886 | Becomes a junction station |
March 1887 | Renamed (Halwill Junction) |
1 January 1923 | Renamed (Halwill) |
3 October 1966 [2] | Closed |
Halwill Junction Railway Station was a railway station in Halwill Junction, near the villages of Halwill and Beaworthy in Devon, England. It opened in 1879 and formed an important junction between the now-closed Bude Branch and North Cornwall line. It closed in 1966 along with the lines which it served, a casualty of the Beeching Report.
The station was opened in January 1879 by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) following the extension of its line from Meldon Junction on the Okehampton to Plymouth line to Holsworthy on the new Bude Branch. Five years later, it became a junction station with the construction by the North Cornwall Railway of a line south to Launceston which gave the latter company a direct through route over LSWR metals to London Waterloo. The opening of the route south led to the renaming of the station - to Halwill Junction - in March 1887. By the close of the century both lines had been extended - the Bude Branch reaching Bude by 10 August 1898 and the North Cornwall Line to Padstow by 23 March 1899. [3]
A third route stretching out to the north towards Torrington was opened on 27 July 1925 by the North Devon and Cornwall Junction Light Railway. [4] This was served by a separate uncovered platform outside the main station building, situated to the north. The station now became officially known as Halwill, although its running-in board provided a fuller description of the routes available, proudly announcing Halwill for Beaworthy, junction for the Bude, North Cornwall & Torrington Lines. [3]
Always a slightly odd station in the sense that it served no particular large urban conurbation and acted largely as a useful interchange between three different lines, Halwill was at its busiest in the period up to the Second World War when eight sidings were laid to deal with the military traffic in the lead-up to D-Day. It also relied, as did the lines which it served, to a large extent on summer holiday traffic and when this began to dry-up in the late 1950s and early 1960s with the increased use of the motorcar, it became unprofitable and a candidate for closure in the Beeching Report. First proposed for closure in April 1964, Halwill saw its connecting lines close one by one over the next few years - the line north to Torrington closed to passengers on 1 March 1965 [5] and those to Bude and Padstow on 3 October 1966, heralding the end for the formerly important railway junction. [3] The line north did, however, remain open between Torrington and Barnstaple for freight until 1982. [6]
The area around the former Halwill station site has undergone residential development and is named "Halwill Junction" after the former station. A housing estate stands near the site of the station, on a road somewhat ironically named "Beeching Close" after the British Transport Commission Chairman, Richard Beeching, who recommended the station's closure. [18]
The Junction Inn remains, close to where the level crossing used to be. A gradient marker stands outside, and there are several photographs within of the former station.
In 1990 the Devon Wildlife Trust purchased from British Rail and a private landowner a section of trackbed around Halwill to create a nature reserve covering an area of 2¾ hectares divided into five compartments. [19] In 1998 Devon County Council began works to enable a cycleway to cross the site; this was realised in April 2005 when a 2+1⁄2 miles (4.0 kilometres) cycleway, forming part of the National Cycle Network, was opened which runs from the village centre via Beeching Close through the nature reserve and the woods on an elevated boardbank to the Forest Centre at Cookworthy where the South West Forest and the Ruby Country Initiative are based. The section was opened as part of a plan by the County Council to extend the Tarka Trail to Hatherleigh, from where the Ruby Way will continue to Halwill Junction and then on to Holsworthy and Bude. [20]
There are plans to further increase the cycle network by reopening the section east towards Meldon Junction. In 2005 Devon County Council agreed in principle to the creation of a bridleway on an intact disused section of the Bude Branch from Thorndon Cross (near the former Meldon Junction) and Halwill, a distance of approximately 7 miles (11 kilometres). [21] The proposal has made slow progress in the face of objections from local residents and the prohibitive prices demanded for the sale of their land by trackbed owners. [22] In 2007 the Council again reiterated its intention to convert the disused railway to public amenity, reaffirming its intention to create cycleways on the sections from Bude to Halwill and Torrington to Halwill. [23]
The Atlantic Coast Express (ACE) is an express passenger train in England that has operated at various times between London and seaside resorts in the South West England. It is currently operated as a summer only service by Great Western Railway between London Paddington and Newquay.
Axminster railway station serves the town of Axminster in Devon, England. It is operated by South Western Railway and is situated on the West of England Main Line. It is 144 miles 41 chains (232.6 km) down the line from London Waterloo.
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 is the largest of the six surviving stations in Plymouth.
The North Devon and Cornwall Junction Light Railway was a railway built to serve numerous ball clay pits that lay in the space between the London and South Western Railway's Torrington branch, an extension of the North Devon Railway group, and Halwill, an important rural junction on the North Cornwall Railway and its Okehampton to Bude Line.
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.
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.
Hayle railway station serves the small town of Hayle, Cornwall, United Kingdom. Great Western Railway manage the station and operate most train services.
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 North Cornwall Railway was a railway line running from Halwill in Devon to Padstow in Cornwall via Launceston, Camelford and Wadebridge, a distance of 49 miles 67 chains. Opened in the last decade of the nineteenth century, it was part of a drive by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) to develop holiday traffic to Cornwall. The LSWR had opened a line connecting Exeter with Holsworthy in 1879, and by encouraging the North Cornwall Railway it planned to create railway access to previously inaccessible parts of the northern coastal area.
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.
Halwill is a village in Devon, England just off the A3079 Okehampton to Holsworthy road. About a mile away on the main road is another settlement called Halwill Junction.
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.
Torrington railway station was a railway station located in Great Torrington, Devon. It was closed by British Railways in 1965 as part of the Beeching cuts.
Hatherleigh Railway Station was a station on the North Devon and Cornwall Junction Light Railway between Torrington and Halwill Junction, serving the town of Hatherleigh. Hatherleigh was the largest place with a station on the line, though the town was almost two miles away. Like others on this line, the station itself was small but it was a passing place on the mainly single-track railway. The stationmaster at Hatherleigh also looked after the other stations on the line, even those, such as Petrockstow and Hole, that were staffed.
Hole Railway Station was a small halt on the North Devon and Cornwall Junction Light Railway in the U.K. between Torrington and Halwill Junction, serving villages such as Black Torrington, Highampton and Sheepwash. The line, which opened in 1925, was a private line until it became part of the Southern Region of British Railways in 1948. The line closed in 1965 as part of the Beeching proposals, freight services having been withdrawn earlier on this section of the line.
Padstow railway station was the western terminus of the North Cornwall Railway. It was opened in 1899 by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) to serve the port of Padstow. It closed in 1967 having been proposed for closure in the Beeching Report.
Bude railway station was the western terminus of the Bude Branch. It was opened in 1898 by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) to serve the coastal town of Bude and closed in 1966 after having been proposed for closure in the Beeching Report.
Holsworthy was a railway station in Devon, England, on the now-closed railway line from Okehampton to Bude. It opened in 1879 to serve the market town of Holsworthy and closed in 1966, a victim of the Beeching Axe.
The hundred of Black Torrington was the name of one of thirty two ancient administrative units of Devon, England.
The Tarka Valley Railway in Devon, England, is a proposed heritage railway based on plans to rebuild the Barnstaple to Halwill Junction railway line. So far only a short demonstration line has been set up, and planning permission was granted for 300 ft of track in the direction of Bideford. The railway has been fenced off from the Tarka Trail ensuring the safety of all involved. Restoration of various items of railway stock is currently under way.
Preceding station | Disused railways | Following station | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Ashbury | L&SWR Bude Branch (1879-1923) Southern (1923-48) Southern Region of British Railways (1948 to 1966) | Dunsland Cross | ||
Terminus | North Devon and Cornwall Junction Light Railway (1925 to 1948) Southern Region of British Railways (1948 to 1966) | Hole | ||
Terminus | North Cornwall Railway to Launceston (1886 to 1923) Southern(1923-1948) Southern Region of British Railways (1948 to 1966) | Ashwater |