Feature

Letting the train take the strain

Campaigners who have long worked to see the reinstatement of a regular train service from Okehampton were jubilant at the announcement in March of a two hourly, seven day a week service between Okehampton and Exeter commencing later this year. Dr Michael Ireland, chair of OkeRail, takes up the story...

Railways are about arrivals and departures. The Okehampton to Exeter line, known as the Dartmoor line, departing from Exeter Central and St David’s stations, has had significance for the community over its 150 year history.

The first train from Exeter arrived at Okehampton in 1871. The last departure was the service to Exeter marking the line’s closure to regular services on June 5th, 1972, just over 100 years after its opening. This date has a personal significance for me - my 24th birthday.

In the intervening years, the line has been keep alive by a number of community initiatives to provide ad hoc passenger services, freight and aggregate trains. Freight in the form of agricultural fertiliser and feed continued to be delivered to the goods sidings (now the site of the Okehampton Youth Hostel) until the 1980s, a decade after the cessation of regular passenger services. The line has been ‘saved’ from being dismantled by carrying stone for track ballast from Meldon quarry until those trains ceased in 2008. The station itself fell into disrepair until renovated by Devon County Council in the 1990s.

Keeping the railway alive

The renovation was followed by the introduction of Sunday ‘Rover’ services to Okehampton from Exeter; with connecting bus services to Dartmoor and the Tamar valley line at Gunnislake. Numerous attempts have been made to realise the potential of the line through tourists and leisure services.

The Dartmoor Railway was borne out of a partnership between Aggregate Industries, the owner of the line from Coleford Junction to Meldon, Devon County Council, Dartmoor National Park and RMS Locotec. Janet Carpenter - past Mayor of Okehampton - remembers working on the trains to Exeter from 1997 to 2007 as a guard and ticket inspector. Since 2004, rail services have been operated by leaseholders, first Ealing Community Transport and then IOWA Pacific Holdings. Their UK subsidiary, British and American Railways (BARS), planned to operate a freight and passenger service on the line.

When stone traffic from Meldon Quarry ceased, the railway continued to operate special events trains at Christmas and a limited service from Meldon to Sampford Courteney Station. What were successful were the summer Sunday service to Exeter, run by GWR with support from Devon County Council. These services were complemented by special trains run by GWR and OkeRail, to London, Stratford-upon-Avon and Weymouth. The importance of these services were that they made the case for the reintroduction of the railway on a seven day a week basis, the fantastic news which was announced on March 19th this year.

The benefits of a regular service

The railway returning to Okehampton will provide opportunity for growth in incomes and employment through inward investment in the town. The cost of reinstating the line for daily use and building an Okehampton Parkway (off the A30, near new housing and the industrial estate) will be relatively cheap. The line will also generate an economic uplift of £4.2 million per annum based on journey time savings and a line speed of 60 mph. The money spent on capital costs will give an excellent return on the initial investment. This point was supported by Sir Peter Hendy of Network Rail, who at a recent meeting of Travel Watch South West argued that railways create wealth, bringing economic growth, jobs and houses.

Okehampton already has another 900 houses under construction or planned on the hamlets/town boundary. With the potential of more cars heading into Exeter, a new ‘Park and

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Ride’ and daily train service would alleviate traffic problems and benefit the environment.

Research undertaken with the local business community supports this point. Nigel Wayne, a local businessman explained: ‘My business is definitely held back by the lack of rail infrastructure. I have a few clients in other parts of the country, London and the home counties mainly. I often get referrals from them, but the sheer impracticality of the travel times to visit these potential clients loses me these opportunities. To drive to an appointment in London would mean an entire day, plus fuel costs, plus parking, probably for a two hour meeting. Even driving to Exeter adds two hours, fuel costs, parking costs.’

There is a clear business case for the line already in existence to Okehampton; and it must be stressed this will benefit an area of the South West Peninsula far beyond the town, to the North Cornwall coast.

Looking to the future

What is needed is cross-border cooperation between Devon County Council and Cornwall Unity Authority to establish Okehampton as a rail hub for North Cornwall and West Devon. In the meantime, Connect Bude, a rail action group is pressing for better connectivity between North Cornwall and the national rail network, through the establishment of a bus link serving Bude and Holsworthy to Okehampton station. This initiative would, if successful ,be a tremendous benefit to the tourist industry in this area. A similar argument can be made for Tavistock and Launceston, which are only 20 minutes’ travel time from Okehampton.

Trains to Okehampton will commence in late 2021 with a 2 hourly service to Exeter, comprising eight trains a day, Monday to Saturday and seven trains on Sundays. In 2022, GWR will launch an hourly service. Tavistock to Okehampton Re-opening Scheme

A proposal to ‘close the gap’ between Okehampton and Tavistock has been put forward to the ‘Renewing our Railways’ government-funded scheme by ToRs (Tavistock to Okehampton Railways ) group. Andrew Roden of the Northern Route Working Group believes rebuilding the railway through Dartmoor could be transformative to Devon and Cornwall.

Andrew said: ‘If the team of experts behind this proposal are right – and we wouldn’t have given months of our time freely for a flight of fancy – this railway will unlock a major regeneration of a huge part of Devon and Cornwall, improving the environment, access to work and education, reducing road congestion and helping our young people to be able to remain in the area they grew up in.

‘There are challenges and there will be concerns about the impact of the railway on the environment and on property; about noise and vibration; and about the impact on priceless treasures such as Meldon Viaduct. It is vital everyone with a view for or against is treated decently, kindly and with respect, so the process would involve detailed studies to define potential routes before presenting the options at a public consultation, followed by a review period to address concerns, and find solutions for areas of difficulty.’

‘For too long, the South West has been the poorest relation in terms of transport investment. For a tiny fraction of the cost of High Speed 2 or Northern Powerhouse Rail, we believe this railway will make more of a difference than any other comparable scheme.

‘If the Prime Minister truly wants to ‘level up’ the South West, we believe this is by far the best transport intervention to achieve that. Increasingly, the region’s MPs are also coming round to that view. In our opinion the ToRs project simply has to happen.’

Rosemary Henderson

Jockey and author

At 78, Rosemary Henderson has crammed an astonishing stack of experiences into her life - even if, at the time we spoke in March, she was somewhat stuck doing not a lot, thanks to Covid restrictions.

Brought up in Gloucestershire, she has always been animal-mad, a keen rider and lover of dogs and cats. She started racing in point to points and national hunt races at the comparatively mature age of 31 and it was the racing world that brought her into contact with equine vet Bill Henderson, himself a jockey and 15 years her junior.

She remembered feeling quite annoyed the practice had sent out ‘this newcomer’ to see her horses, but they hit it off, spending time riding and competing together. ‘We ended up getting married in 1986 - I was 43, he was 27,’ said Rosemary. Bill’s intention to set up in practice on his own saw the couple move to Folly Gate the same year. The couple had five horses by this time and Rosemary was competing regularly, doing well in national hunt events and relishing the thrill of racing.

Then Fiddler’s Pike came into her life - or Magnus, as she called him - who was given to the couple after Bill had spent much time treating his bad back. After a boozy meal with neighbours Noel and Helen Edmonds, Rosemary was persuaded to enter him into the Grand National.

‘I’d never wanted to ride it but we’d done quite a lot of good races. Jimmy Frost, a local trainer, rang up and offered to ride him in it and I thought: “If that horse is going to run, I’m going to be the one to ride him”,’ said Rosemary, who was 51 at the time.

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‘I was walking the dogs two weeks before the race and thought: “What the hell am I doing?”!’

Rosemary said Magnus was a neurotic starter - if not ‘led up’ he’d whip around, ending up facing the wrong way when when the flag went up. However, once he got going, he was a very strong galloper and great jumper: ‘We made a good pair,’ she said. They certainly did that day in 1996, when Rosemary, tagged in the press as ‘the galloping granny’ (completely erroneously; she has no children), finished fifth out of 40 starters, remaining for many years the highest placed woman jockey in the world famous race. She later wrote a book, Road to the National, based on the experience.

Life for Bill and Rosemary took a completely new turn when they accompanied his parents, his father having suffered a brain haemorrhage, to New Zealand in 1998. After a short period travelling they settled on the North Island, where most horse eventing takes place. Bill established a new client base, while also gaining a pilot’s licence. Flying to see clients gave the couple more scope to move further afield, eventually re-building a house on the beach at Golden Bay on the South Island.

‘It’s a lovely area, a beautiful place to live,’ said Rosemary. Living by the ocean developed their love of sailing and sparked a desire to see more of the world - in 2008 they upped sticks and relocated to the north of Brisbane in Australia, an easier country from which to sail.

‘We’d always had sailing boats but we wanted to live on a boat for a bit. We started looking at these amazing cruisers, very slow but with amazing range and very stable, big enough to get all our kit in,’ said Rosemary. With no horses of their own by this stage, or dogs, there was nothing stopping them - she and Bill bought the good ship Levity and spent three years on her, exploring the Caribbean and east coast of America, wintering in the West Indies.

‘I loved the Caribbean - you can do a different island every day. When you think I didn’t leave Gloucestershire until I was 43, I’ve been very lucky!’ laughed Rosemary.

They returned to Australia in 2010 but incredibly sadly, Rosemary lost Bill to a brain tumour in 2014, following a two year fight with cancer. ‘He was only 57 - I always thought he’d be looking after me when I got old,’ said Rosemary.

She now divides her time between Australia and her home in Lewdown, although thanks to Covid she’s been unable to return ‘down under’. Still as active as ever, she is planning a sponsored cycle ride in May on the Tarka Trail, to raise funds for research into dementia.

‘It’s a horrible disease - I’d like to do something to help,’ she said.

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Daryll Chapman

Teacher and sports enthusiast

Daryll Chapman is just beginning to get used to a different pace of life. Having retired as CEO of Dartmoor Multi Academy Trust last September, after working at Okehampton College since 2001, he’s enjoying learning new skills - on the building site!

Born in Kenilworth, Daryll spent his formative years in Derbyshire. A lover of sport from an early age, he spent a year under contract to Derby County FC - ‘a great experience’ - and later played semi-professionally for Crewe Alexandra before making the decision to study PE and become a teacher.

His wife Jill was also a PE teacher - not surprisingly, their three children share their parents’ love of sport, his two daughters both competing at national and international level.

Daryll came to Okehampton from a position as deputy head at a school in Aylesbury.

‘It was a tough school in special measures,’ he said. ‘It was very challenging, but very rewarding. But we’d started coming down to this neck of the woods, I suppose as respite from the job, and we decided to think about getting a post down here. Chris Powell appointed me to be his deputy at Okehampton College in September 2001.’

Daryll remembered his first year as being difficult for the school - and the community. The college had suffered flooding, foot and mouth had hit the area badly and a couple of students sadly lost their lives.

The way education is provided has seen huge changes since Daryll arrived in Devon - first there were federations and now the college now is part of a 17-school academy encompassing primary and secondary education, covering a large, rural area.

Daryll said: ‘I still think that’s one of the appeals of federations and trusts, there’s a lot we can learn from each other.

‘At one time we had the money to be much more creative, more imaginative. In recent years it’s been very much documented how schools down here have struggled financially. Devon was languishing towards the bottom of the table, one of the worst authorities in terms of funding for education - it shouldn’t be a postcode lottery and we went through a time feeling it very much was, so we in schools have been very active in pressing for fair funding.

‘We have been very lucky and successful with a lot of self-help projects, things like the skills centre at the college, the development of the science labs to name but a few. It’s been tough at times but incredibly rewarding for the majority of time.’

Daryll said he had ‘absolutely loved’ teaching and drew huge satisfaction from it.

‘Every child develops but just at different times. You see some youngsters that aren’t quite ready at 16 or 18 but go on to do wonderful things and I’ve seen youngsters whose practical prowess is spectacular - they just aren’t cut out for the classroom.

‘You don’t see the outcome of your job until afterwards. It’s not an immediate reward, it comes back years after, when you bump into these youngsters when they’ve developed and matured.’

Daryll may have left Okehampton College but he’s still involved in education, providing support to headteachers through the Devon School Leadership Service. And a world away from this, he’s helping a friend on a housing development project.

‘I’m really enjoying learning new practical skills and it’s so different to anything I’ve done before,’ said Daryll, who has recently become chair of Okehampton United Charities (OUC), having been a trustee for many years.

OUC distributes around £380,000-worth of support to schools, organisations and individuals in Okehampton and its hamlets every year and Daryll is keen to promote the charity as widely as possible.

‘As a town we are very, very lucky have a charity of that size. So many organisations and individuals are able to apply

to it for support and I would encourage them to do so.’

Injuries and metalwork in his ankles mean Daryll’s days of playing football and rugby are over - these days he and his wife are doing a lot of walking - they’ve got as far as Portland on the South West coast path; he’d like to do the Saint’s Way and perhaps Hadrian’s Wall.

And maybe having retired from teaching he will find time to learn to play a musical instrument or master a foreign language - both of which he wishes he’d done when younger. ‘As I always say, don’t lead a life of “I wish I had” - lead a life of “thank goodness I did” - it’s about engaging in opportunity,’ said Daryll.

Jane Honey