TARKA VALLEY RAILWAY EXTENDS TOWARDS BIDEFORD
Ten years after it was formed, the Tarka Valley Railway is breaking out of its Torrington base and extending towards Bideford. Work has already begun on the quarter-mile extension, which forms Phase 1 of the plan to reinstate the line as far as Bideford on the Barnstaple-Torrington branch, after Devon County Council granted the TVR a 12-year lease of that section of trackbed. On April 16, contractors moved in to help ‘move’ the Tarka Trail walking route, which occupies the former trackbed, onto the Down side of the line, with the new railway to be laid on the Up side. A fence is being installed to separate the path from the proposed running line. TVR Charitable Incorporated Organisation Trustee Rod Garner says: “The extension will cost in the region of £100,000. We have funds to complete the first part of the project and are currently working hard on fund-raising, looking at the ‘big funds’ now we have the lease.” Mr Garner anticipates that the extension to its 300-yard running line will take three years to complete, depending on funds, and says the plan is to eventually reinstate the old signal box, platelayers’ hut and trolley hut. He added: “All the trackbed to Bideford is owned by Devon County Council. We only have a lease on the land needed for Phase 1 at present and while it has taken years to get this lease, we know that the top brass at County Hall are supportive; it’s just the paperwork which takes the time.”