Okehampton revival marked by special day

THE opening of the cafe, Dartmoor National Park information centre, shop and toilets as the latest stage in the rebirth of Okehampton station on the new Dartmoor Line on September 24 was marked by a special Destination Dartmoor Day.

Since the line, formerly the Dartmoor railway heritage line, was opened in November last year as the first success in the Government’s Restoring Your Railways fund, there have been more than 140,000 journeys on it. Trains to Exeter increased from two-hourly to hourly in May.

The station, which was closed by BR in 1972, has been restored on the theme of the Southern Region of the 1950s.

The Bulleid Buffet, named after locomotive engineer Oliver Bulleid, is being run by Leanne Knight and her team from the Amazing Brownie Bakers, of the nearby village of Lifton.

Pamela Woods, the chairman of Dartmoor National Park, cut the ribbon to mark the opening of the completed facilities and praised the “immense amount of work” that had gone into the project.

DAVE COLLIER October 2 saw steam working over Corrour on the West Highland Line with LMS ‘Black Five’ No. 44871 hauling the empty coaching stock from West Coast Railways’ ‘The Jacobite’ to Carnforth. The service train that ran in front of it enabled the photographer to get to this remote location, which is not accessible by car.