to reopen under the Government Scheme and at Record Speed

The Dartmoor Line – The FIRST to re-open under the Government Scheme - and at Record Speed!

What a wonderful birthday present! Just 150 years after the railway first arrived in Okehampton, trains are planned to be running into Okehampton before the end of 2021! Thanks to the UK Government’s “Restoring Your Railways” initiative, the line from Exeter to Okehampton will be the first to be up and running under this scheme!

Not only is this a welcome return but the teams working on its reopening, under the leadership of Network Rail have been breaking records witht the speed of their tracklaying.

Benefits of the Reopening

The move will greatly improve connectivity for people living between Okehampton and Exeter and the surrounding areas, with journey times on the train estimated to be around 30% quicker than by car or bus while helping contribute towards reducing traffic congestion and associated pollution on the busy A30.

The railway will also provide better access to and from the wider mid- and west Devon and north Cornwall areas, and will greatly support school and college pupils and people who live in or near Okehampton, but who need to travel to Exeter to study or work.

Economically, the reopening of the railway is expected to attract inward investment to Okehampton and the surrounding areas as well as resulting in greater numbers of visitors. The development of the railway and Okehampton station as a transport hub will help boost tourism to the area by providing greater access to the town and nearby attractions including Dartmoor National Park - which is celebrating its 70th anniversary - and the Granite Way cycle route. It has the potential to bring millions of pounds into the local area.

Once the initial green light was given for this

Okehampton Station in a timewarp, abandoned but intact, mercifully free of vandals. 08/08/1991 (Colin Burges) The Plymouth/Exeter railways in 1890

Ex-LSWR Drummond T9 4-4-0 no 30717 at Okehampton in June 1954

Maunsell N class no 31406 approaching the Okehampton turntable in spring 1961

project and working in partnership with Great Western Railway (GWR), Network Rail initially carried out detailed investigations to understand what infrastructure and railway control system improvements were needed to bring the Dartmoor

(Left) the original track in 1991 (Right above) the original track cut into 60ft lengths, ready for removal

Line up to the required standards to enable GWR to operate trains safely.

As part of these upgrades, improvements have been made to Okehampton station including the installation of a ticket vending machine, Help Point, public address system, information screens, CCTV, and free Wi-Fi. A 'Pay & Display' car park will also be introduced with dedicated disabled bays, and the station building, and platform will be fully accessible.

Reopening the Line

The reopening of the railway line between Okehampton and Exeter is one step closer after Network Rail finished relaying the new track and sleepers this week (w/e 14th May).

Following the confirmation of government funding in March, engineers started immediately and have worked tirelessly upgrading this 14 mile stretch of track between Okehampton and Coleford Junction, where the Dartmoor Line joins the existing railway line to Exeter. As well as laying new track and sleepers, Network Rail engineers have been working day and night on drainage, fencing, preparing the ground for the new railway and much more.

However, before the high technology equipment can move in (see NTC below), the old track had to be removed. This was done using a Cropper machine which cut the old track into handleable lengths. This method was used as it is quicker than burning or cutting. The old track was then removed and the trackbed dozed and prepared, before the ground was compacted using a whacker.

The Balfour Beatty New Track Construction (NTC) Machine

NTC machines are employed for relaying new sleepers and rail on to a prepared track bed. The NTC machine is the only high-production track laying system in the UK suitable for consistently delivering high performance track renewal. The machine’s sleeper-handling gantry transports the new sleepers and places them onto the conveyor systems of the reception wagon. The sleepers are transferred to the head of the truss beam before being placed on to

The Class 86 locomotive returning with empty wagons

(Above) the train load of sleepers (Below) The NTC with its train of sleepers

the track bed using the sleeper-drop mechanism. The sleepers are then aligned to the desired spacing automatically. The new rail is thimbled through a series of rollers and clamps along the truss beam and aligned into the sleeper seat using the rail liner. The rail is clipped into the sleepers using the clipping equipment mounted to the self-powered wagon. Additional features include: – Self-powered machine within possession – Fully automated FASTCLIP clipping system – Dedicated operational crew – Dedicated fleet of sleeper carrying wagons to deliver sleepers to site with the NTC machine. On multi-line and single lines the NTC machine has the added benefit of being able to work with an adjacent line open, delivering steel and concrete sleepers, at speeds of up to 175 yards to 200 yards an hour (dependant on site conditions).

Over 11 miles of new track have been successfully laid and 24,000 concrete sleepers installed (as of 10th May) using the NTC machine. The concrete sleepers, which were stored at the work site adjacent to Okehampton station, have been transported along the Dartmoor Line using a Class 56 locomotive train that has pushed around a quarter-mile long set of wagons containing on average 2,430 sleepers per journey at a speed of 5mph. The 29,000 tonnes of ballast have also nearly all been installed, and this will be followed by the process of tamping, using a machine travelling along the newly laid railway and inserting vibrating metal rods into the ballast to compact it so that it effectively supports the track while lifting the track so that it is level. Once complete, this process results in a smoother ride for passengers and prevents the train wheels from

causing damage to the track. To enable engineers to work throughout the night, over four miles of lights have also been erected. These lights have been powered by silent generators to ensure residents living near to the Dartmoor Line are disrupted as little as possible.

Now that the main elements of the track relay work have been completed, Network Rail will be turning its focus to other aspects of the project including upgrading several level crossings, installing new GSM-R masts (the railway’s mobile communications system), undertaking bridge repairs as well as running engineering test trains to check the quality of the newly laid track.

Becky Tipper, Network Rail scheme project manager, said: “We are delighted with the progress the team has made and this is credit to the hard work and dedication of our engineers involved in this project. To have already laid the 11 miles of track, 24,000 sleepers and nearly completing the installation of the 29,000 tonnes of ballast is no mean feat and we are looking forward to focussing our attention on the next stage of work. It has also been really comforting to see such interest and support from the local community. We are committed to reopening this important railway line as quickly and safely as possible and look forward to the resumption of regular passenger services in the not-too-distant future.”

Richard Burningham MBE, Manager of the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership, added: “Hats off and many thanks to all involved in this tremendous feat. To have laid 11 miles of track already is fabulous and it’s been great to see videos of the very innovative piece of kit which has helped on the Dartmoor Line. Thanks too to the Government for funding all this work.”

History of the Line

It all started in the late 1860s as part of a series of lines from Exeter into the rural areas of northwest Devon. Okehampton station opened in 1871 when the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) extended its line from Sampford Courtenay. Services were extended further west to Lydford 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 Okehampton become an important junction 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. From 1961 to 1964 it was the terminus of a car-carrying train from Surbiton.

With the publication of the Beeching Report in 1963, the line to Bude was put forward for closure as was part of the Exeter to Plymouth Line which was to be cut back to Okehampton. The local press were surprised at this decision, since many small towns had their railway services cut, yet Okehampton survived with a population under 4,000. Its survival prompted questions as to why the line should remain open when others, such as the Avocet Line which saw far more traffic, were Spring 2021 GREAT WESTERN STAR MAGAZINE 107

34108 Wincanton calls at Okehampton with the 09 00 Waterloo - Plymouth, Aug 1961. (Bernard Mills)

proposed for closure. It was said that at the time Okehampton had about 50 regular users per day and a handful of season ticket holders! The Avocet Line was saved from closure, but Okehampton lost its passenger services in 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 line to the quarry closed in 2011.

As part of a local partnership scheme initiated and led by Devon County Council, Okehampton station was re-opened in 1997 and a Youth Hostel opened in the old goods shed, providing an activity centre as well. The Dartmoor Railway operated heritage passenger services from the station, running to Sampford Courtenay and Meldon. A summer Sunday service from Exeter to Okehampton operated as part of the Dartmoor Sunday Rover network.

The station building, which was used by Devon Training for Skills after 1972, was restored and reopened incorporating an independently owned model shop and café. After temporary closure during a change in railway ownership in 2008, the cafe was reopened by the Friends of Dartmoor Railway but closed in 2019. A craft centre previously operated on one of the platforms. This now houses a small exhibition and museum showing the history of the railway and station.]

British American Railway Services Ltd, a new company created by Iowa Pacific Holdings of Chicago, became the owner of the Dartmoor Railway on 4 September 2008. The company said it would develop freight, passenger, and tourist services on the railway. This was never achieved, and the last heritage service ran on 24 December 2019.

The Hope for a New Future

In November 2017, the Government included the reopening of the line from Exeter to Okehampton as part of its plans to expand the network, and a letter to local MPs from the secretary of state for transport, Chris Grayling, was sent out at the end of January 2018. In January 2020 it was announced that, due to financial problems, the British American Railway Services had put all their British operations up for sale including this railway. The United Kingdom government's November 2020 Spending Review included a commitment to restore passenger services and £40,000,000 was allocated for this work in the March 2021 government budget.

Then, it was announced on 19 March 2021, that Okehampton station would reopen to regular services by the end of the year. This was to be funded as part of the Government's 'Restoring Your Railway' programme. The service is planned to be two-hourly between Okehampton and Exeter St David’s with some services extended to Exeter Central. The service will increase to hourly towards the end of 2022.

Rail Lines into Cornwall

One of the aspects that could offer a much bigger future in the long term for the Okehampton line is that, for many years, there has only been one rail line into Cornwall from Devon – and that is the line along the southern coast of Devon through Dawlish. The troubled history of this line is well known with constant disruption during winter storms. Network Rail is in the middle of a multi-year programme to strengthen and protect this line (See the January issue of Great Western Star - Ed) with some quite revolutionary technology being used.

These problems have led to many calls over the years for the former London & South Western Railway line, which ran around the northern edge of Dartmoor, via Crediton, Bere Alston and Okehampton to be reinstated, thereby offering an alternative route between Plymouth and Exeter but this, so far has never been officially backed despite a great deal of lobbying over many years.

The reopening of the link would restore the continuous circuit of railway, linking the towns around Dartmoor. On 18 March 2008, Devon County Council backed a separate proposal by developers Kilbride Community Rail to construct 750 houses in Tavistock that included reopening part of this route from Bere Alston to a new railway station in Tavistock. Time will tell but at least, with the reopening of the Okehampton line, the gap is getting smaller!

New Book

DRSA members will be interested in the latest book in the 'Backtracking ...' series from renowned local author, photographer and former railwayman Bernard Mills. Entitled 'Backtracking around Plymouth, Callington, Tavistock North and the SR main line to Okehampton' (ISBN 9781916019041), it is published by Plymouth-based local history specialist Pen & Ink Publishing. Copies can be bought online from Pen & Ink's partner website www.chrisrobinson.co.uk/shop/ books. Published February 2021