The Dartmoor Line

Okehampton’s link with Exeter opened in 1872, and by the 1950s the line had 12 trains a day in each direction, augmented in summer by the Atlantic Coast Express from London Waterloo until 1964.

Although Dr Beeching envisaged trains continuing to serve Okehampton, services were withdrawn in 1972.

The line’s survival for ballast traffic from Meldon Quarry allowed its occasional use for excursion and even troop trains. West Devon Borough Council sponsored charter trains in 1985-86, and in 1994 it joined Devon County Council and the late Roy Gibbs in funding the purchase and restoration of Okehampton station.

Starting in 1997, Devon Council funded services on summer Sundays to and from Exeter, and these ran each year until 2019.

The Dartmoor Railway ran special trains until its demise in 2020, by which time the long-running campaign to reopen the line had succeeded in persuading the Government to commission a reopening plan from Great Western Railway.

The line reopened on November 20 2021 as the first line to be reinstated under the DfT’s Restoring your Railway initiative. Beginning with a train every two hours each way, the timetable will become hourly during 2022, following further infrastructure work. Most trains continue through Exeter St Davids to Exeter Central.

The 118 bus service between Okehampton and Tavistock has been recast by Devon Council to improve frequency and meet every train.

As well as being an attractive route, it serves both ends of the National Trust’s Lydford Gorge. Work is under way to improve bus routes from Okehampton to Bude and Launceston.