Trains return to Okehampton 150 years after they first arrived – thanks to Network Rail reopening
DAILY passenger services will return to the Dartmoor Line to Okehampton for the first time in almost half a century on Saturday, November 20, ahead of schedule.
The former Dartmoor Railway heritage line is the first route to open under the Government's Restoring Your Railway manifesto commitment, delivering passenger services in just nine months from the £40 million funding being approved.
Trains will run every two hours, increasing to hourly from next May.
The services will connect Exeter St Davids, Crediton and Okehampton, and about half of them, including those at peak times, will carry on to Exeter Central.
Passenger services to Okehampton ceased in 1972 and the line was used for ballast traffic from Meldon Quarry and occasional freight traffic. Heritage services started under the banner of the Dartmoor Railway in 2000, and trains from the national network later ran on Sundays during the summer.
Network Rail's team of engineers have laid 11 miles of new track and installed 24,000 concrete sleepers and 29,000 tonnes of ballast in record time. Repairs have also been made to 21 structures along the route, including four bridges. During the winter, further work on the station buildings will enable the restoration of the Okehampton station café and other facilities.
Great Western Railway managing director Mark Hopwood said: “The project to reopen the line is already helping bring social and economic benefits to the local area and reinforces the positive impact that the railway can have on the communities we serve.”
150th anniversary
Over the weekend of October 2/3, Okehampton celebrated the 150th anniversary of the first public passenger train arriving at its station.
The town was decorated with ribbons, bunting, flags, and flower baskets, and a triumphal arch in the form of a double-sided horizontal banner was erected across Fore Street, recalling the arches that welcomed the coming of the railway in many towns. A Victorian tea party in the Charter Hall included a short play of the House of Commons debate arguing the case for, and against, a railway to Okehampton.
Preceded by music from the Okehampton Excelsior Band, a proclamation about the coming of the railway was read outside the town hall, and outside the youth hostel – the former goods shed, and a ceremony was held whereby the Mayor presented the `Victorian Stationmaster' with the special token/ key, symbolising the line's opening.