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Representing users of the Barnstaple to Exeter rail line

www.tarkarail.org

Issue 30 Summer 2009

TARKA RAIL ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE

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Front Cover: “Tarka the Otter” at the launch of the walks booklet

Opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the editors nor of the Tarka Rail Association

Design: Tarka Rail Association

Articles, information, and letters for the next edition should be sent to: Andy Hedges, 20 Barton Meadow Road, High Bickington,

Umberleigh, EX37 9AN or e-mailed to andyhedges@gmail.com

Contents Author(s)

Andy Hedges John Phillips

John Burch

Peter Craske/AlanClark

Richard Burningham

Tony Hill

Page

3 4 5 6

12 14 16 19 20 21 22 24 26

Topic Editorial Chairman’s Report Information Line Tarka Line Bus Service Developments All change for Platform 2 Exploring the Line—Lapford Revealed by the National Archives Line closures get better No more swimming pools! Latest passenger figures Tarka Line Walks Line Update & Miscellany Membership Matters

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Editorial

Nearly half way through the year, and lo and behold another maga-zine makes an appearance! There was an indication in the last is-sue that it might not continue in the usual format, or even that it might not continue at all. This aroused comment from some mem-bers, and although changes are currently afoot, there has been a rethink, as it was felt that paid up members should receive some-thing over and above the generally available newsletter that is be-ing planned for general distribution. Some of the changes that were hinted at in the last issue have come to fruition, but not without a certain amount of anxiety among committee members! The change in name is the most obvious, as the front cover shows, and this had to be tied in to the production and publication with the new walks booklet, of which more in this issue. In addition there is a new website in the course of construc-tion which we hope will bring the association to the attention of a much wider audience. The more or less hourly timetable seems to be working well so far, and continues for the second half of the year with minimal change; some of the services in the middle of the day are relatively lightly used, and this should now be our challenge. The key measurement of the success of the line is the number of passengers carried, and we should now be targeting a figure of 350,000 for the year, with a greater uptake for those lightly loaded services particularly those from Exeter to Barnstaple. Of course, the current financial climate may well result in more pa-tronage in the summer, as more people holiday in this country, but let us hope that there is sufficient stock available to ensure that there is not a repeat of the overcrowding that has been seen before on this line (see page 23).

Andy Hedges

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Chairman’s Report

The Editor has explained why there has been such a long gap since the last magazine but we have certainly not been idle! I recently wrote to you all explaining our new name and image, and the feedback has all been very positive and supportive. Thank you very much to all those who wrote to me. The new daytime hourly service – which no one could have dreamed of even two years ago – has now settled down well and our thanks go to Devon County Council for their investment which I am sure is al-ready paying dividends judging by the loadings I see when travelling around. The official statistics also show how well the line is doing and, whilst the service may not be the fastest, the frequency is definitely contributing to growing passenger numbers. We are now focusing our attention to lobbying for a seven train Sun-day service with an earlier morning departure from Barnstaple. We are still striving for a later evening train from Exeter, but this is unlikely to happen for a while yet. Part of the reason for wanting (indeed needing) a seven train Sunday service is because of our new Walks Brochure. This was successfully launched by Tarka at the beginning of April and is already drawing in huge praise from a wide number of people and organisations. Our sincere thanks must go to committee member Peter Craske who de-voted so much time to researching the walks and the production of the booklet to such a very high standard. Peter has already devised 22 complimentary cycle rides, but we can’t publicise these yet because there isn’t any spare room on the trains for the hordes of bikes that would be attracted to the line! We are cautiously optimistic that we will see the back of at least the un-refurbished Pacer trains before too long. Already First Great West-ern have started to filter in some more modern trains at certain times of the day and, in particular, have agreed to put a Class 150 Sprinter on the 1657 departure from St Davids where the additional 30 seats are most welcome.

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Stations along the line are benefiting from new poster cases, notices and signage thanks to the County Council. The package is designed to make unstaffed stations more user friendly and provide sufficient space for the adequate display of information. Unfortunately, we have suf-fered our own first case of vandalism in that the Association’s own No-tice Board at Copplestone has been badly damaged. On the other hand, thanks to the County Council and Network Rail, Umberleigh Sta-tion car park has been upgraded which means goodbye to the pot-holes - and new lighting will be provided shortly. The Association has also taken over the maintenance of the redundant platform at Barnstaple and details are given later. This is a major un-dertaking and if any members or their family or friends can give a little of their time on a regular or occasional basis, please contact Mike Day or Phil Simkin who would be very pleased to hear from you. Thank you very much for your continued support and I hope that you have a good summer.

John Phillips

Information Line

It has long been a problem at intermediate stations that if there are any problems that affect the running of the train service then pro-spective passengers will not be aware, as there is no effective cus-tomer information system available. The existing dial up system on platforms only supplies details of the next trains as timetabled, (that is when it works), but now, through the good offices of the Station-master’s Café at Barnstaple there is an continuously updated dial up service available during normal opening hours which will advise if there any problems with the train service. The number to ring for the up to date recorded message is :-

07964 525084

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Tarka Line Bus Service Developments

I met with the new First Devon and Cornwall (FDC) North Devon Operations Manager Gary Moggeridge on January 3rd. Following this meeting, I was invited to send the company written details of our initial proposals. I subsequently asked FDC to consider the following proposals:- * diversion the first route 1 journey from Bideford at 06.20 – to run via the station (at 0645). There may be a problem with this as the service 3 departure from Belle Meadow to Ilfracombe at 06.50 is designed to connect, but there’s no harm in asking the question.

* diversion of the 1935 and 2035 route 2 departures from Belle

Meadow via Barnstaple Station to provide bus connections to Bideford, Northam and Appledore off the 19.13 and 20.10 train arrivals.

* to explore the possibility of diverting the 1825 route 3 depar ture from Ilfracombe via thestation (to connect with the 1916 departure) and to likewise divert the 1910 and 2010 departures from Belle Meadow via the station (to connect with the 1913 and 2010 arrivals). * to seek better Sunday connections between service 3 and the

rail arrival at 1305 (bus is currently to depart as the train ar-rives), 1510 (bus arrives at 1500 and departs at 1505), 1716 (bus arrives 1700 and departs 1705), 1911 (bus arrives 1900 and departs 1905) and 2119 (bus arrives 2100 and departs 2105). DCC pay for half of the FDC service 3, but the core of the service is still commercially operated by First. Scheduling constraints may be the problem here, but use of the new bridge (perhaps in the form of a loop working) might allow a solution. I am currently checking which journeys are DCC funded.

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* Additionally our aspirations extend to trying to persuade FDC to divert a portion of the trunk Barnstaple – Bideford corridor service via the station. The sensible option would seem to be service 2 which would give North Devon Hospital, Northam and Appledore new links to the railway. We consider that such a development is more likely if FDC can be encouraged to try some or all of the above options to see whether targeted mar-keting can develop some new traffic on/off of these morning and evening rail journeys. We believe that FDC would then see the benefit of making a commercial decision to divert a signifi-cant commercial operation via the station.

* We are also keen to see additional weekday journeys on route 3 diverted to the station. We subsequently had an initial acknowledgement from Commercial Director Simon Newport, asking whether we had access to any fund-ing to support any of our proposals. He indicated that if such funds might be available then this may expedite consideration of these plans. FDC services 1 (Barnstaple – Bideford - Westward Ho!) and 2 (Barnstaple – Bideford – Appledore) are now entirely commercial and consequently Simon has indicated that any initiative would either have to be funded by First in Devon and Cornwall or consideration given to seeking outside funding to vary the existing service. Simon made further contact on 22nd February. He indicated that he was sure that the company could look at some early morning or eve-ning journeys serving the station if they were already operating in that direction. Extensions to services were however a different matter because there would be a cost to cover hours and miles. Simon indicated that an ex-tension of Service 3 from Ilfracombe to the Rail Station would cost an additional peak vehicle in order to maintain reliability, and unfortu-nately First Devon and Cornwall would not consider doing this without additional resource. Simon has confirmed that FDC are keen to work with TRA and First Great Western but because of the recent history of FDC they can only undertake speculative revisions that are cost effec-tive.

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Simon has indicated that the cost of extending service 3 would be be-tween £80k and £100k per annum for which FDC would want some sort of revenue guarantee. Simon has suggested that this is perhaps something that the rail partnership, First Great Western and DCC might like to consider collectively. In so far as Sunday revision to service 3 is concerned Simon has indi-cated that the timetable currently provides clock face times for cus-tomers travelling around the rest of the route. Changing the times to fit into the trains would lose this facility. If the gaps in the train service are bigger than one hour, the gap in the bus service will also be more than an hour. If FDC were to maintain clock face departures as well this would require more resources that will need to be paid for. In the interim we have asked FDC to consider our first three proposals (above) as priority low cost alterations for services 1 and 2. Meanwhile on 8th April, Tony Simmons from Stagecoach Devon re-sponded to our initial requests. He apologised for the time taken to re-spond, but had apparently been awaiting some confirmation of plans concerning some of their routes. We had asked Stagecoach to consider advancing the first route 21 journey ex-Bideford by 15 minutes (current arrival at the station at 07.13 is too late for the 07.09 train departure). Tony responded that the service 21 timetable was recently revised, but that it had not been possible to incorporate this request at present, but he has confirmed that he will review this again when looking at the next service changes. We then asked whether Stagecoach could be persuaded to run later service 21 journeys? The last route 21 leaves the station at 18.24 for Bideford. This is OK for the 18.07 arrival but leaves the 19.13, 20.10 and 22.13 arrivals un-served by Stagecoach. Tony replied that service 21 has not at present been extended to oper-ate later journeys, although this may be considered further in time to come depending on the commercial viability. When considering any

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additional evening services, he has confirmed that he will ensure the schedules department are aware of the train times and will see if they can inter-work an acceptable timetable. We then asked whether it might be possible to ask Devon CC to con-sider diversion of the route 315 departure (operated by Stagecoach Devon) from Belle Meadow at 22.35 via the station. This would have provided a wait of about 24 minutes (but if the train ran late this would provide a safety margin), and would provide a link onward to Torring-ton. Tony sadly told us that the 22.35 service 315 departure no longer ex-ists, and that instead a journey now operates from Barnstaple Bus Station at 21.50. This journey is not supported by DCC and is oper-ated commercially in order to allow a vehicle change at Torrington out-station. The vehicle and driver that operate this journey are tied into a previous route and therefore to alter this would cause problems opera-tionally. However, again, Tony has said that he will ask the Stage-coach schedules department to consider this request when looking at future changes. Last, but not least, we indicated that most of the buses operating DCC routes 71 and 72, could provide comfortable connections with trains. These services were not originally routed via the station road and in-tending passengers had to walk to the Sticklepath Terrace stops. We suggested that these would be ideal candidates for routing via the bus link. We were delighted that Tony replied saying that he and Stagecoach fully support this. Apparently he initially suggested this on the opening of the station bus link, however, after consideration it was agreed to ensure the link was operating correctly before committing too many services. We are delighted to be able to report that Stagecoach agreed that from the next service changes on 18th May 2009, the fol-lowing additional services would be using the bus link via the railway station:- DCC contract services 71 (Barnstaple-Holsworthy), 72 (Barnstaple-Shebear), 85 (Barnstaple-Bude), 315 (Barnstaple-Exeter via Bideford,

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Torrington and Winkleigh) and 319 (Barnstaple – Hartland via Bide-ford, Clovelly). A nice new bus stop has been put in place at the sta-tion to provide information about these new services. This is excellent news and by the time you read this there will have been a significant increase in the number of services calling at the rail-way station. In issue 29, I forgot to mention another service that runs to Barnstaple station. It is the weekday service 310 departure (operated for DCC by TW Coaches - usually with a low floor bus) from Lynmouth at 0728 will set down at Barnstaple station (at 0837) on request (it operates to North Devon College on College days). Also there is a balancing de-parture from the station each weekday at 1640 (it starts from North Devon College on College days) to Lynton. The vehicle that works this journey operates the 1515 route 310 jour-ney from Lynton. It is currently scheduled to terminate at Belle Meadow at 1610. The vehicle then makes it way across to North Devon College (on college days) or Barnstaple station (on non-college days) to take up the 1630 from the college (or 1640 from the station on non college days). We asked DCC to consider extending the in-bound journey to the station just to provide a link for anyone that might use it travelling in from Lynton, Paracombe, Bratton Fleming etc.). The train arrives at 1535 so any intending passenger could at least buy tickets and sit down in the warm while waiting for departure at 1709. Devon CC have confirmed that they are currently working on this ser-vice operating via Barnstaple Station from 24th May 2009. We have also asked whether DCC have a view on the possibility of considering a diversion of the Sunday Beacon Bus operated service 118 departure at 1320 from Belle Meadow via the station. This would give some useful limited stop links to Bideford and beyond. While the Dartmoor Sunday Rover ticket is not valid on the Tarka line, it is valid o n t h e 1 1 8 a n d t h i s m i g h t p r o v e a useful starting point for the more adventurous traveller. Equally the 1850 route 118 arrival in Barnstaple might usefully divert via the station (on request?) to provide a link with the 1917 train de-parture. DCC have said that they have no plans at this stage to divert

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this service at the moment. They want to see how the other changes work this summer before considering further alterations. Stagecoach Devon revised the services between Exeter and Mor-chard Bishop from January 12th. All journeys are now routed via Mor-chard Road and so the Sandford variation (50A) is now the sole pre-serve of Turners service 369. All journeys are now numbered 50 and interwork with the DCC contract services 51, 51A and 315. Members may also be interested to know that Western Greyhound, who operate service 510 (between Exeter and Newquay via Oke-hampton) have taken over operation of the 0600 Exeter - Okehampton and 0655 Okehampton - Exeter journeys from Stagecoach Devon. Three brand new Enviro 400 low floor environmentally friendly double deckers (similar to those used by First on service X9) recently entered service on this route which feeds into Exeter St Davids/Central sta-tions. Western Greyhound also additionally took over operation of Hookways Jennings service X90 between Bude and Exeter from Mon-day May 11th. The route will be operated initially as route 90, but is likely to be renumbered in due course when the results of a number of other Cornwall contracts are known in the Bude area. There are two station signs at Barnstaple that currently still indicate that FDC service 7 operates from the station. This has not been the case since last October and we have asked FGW to correct this. The Network Rail web site station information for Barnstaple is also incorrect in so far as buses are concerned. We are currently trying to ensure that all the Network Rail information for the Tarka Line stations is updated. I am also working on a bus information section for our new web site, the first part of which may well be in place by the time you read this. If anyone wants to correspond with me about bus and coach services linking with the Tarka Line I would be delighted to receive your notes at johnaburch@btinternet.com or via my postal address inside the back page of the magazine.

John A Burch

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All change for Platform 2

Those members who were able to attend the Annual General Meeting in 2007 may remember the leaflet that was circulated to highlight the state of the disused platform 2 at Barnstaple, and the possibility of the Group (as it was then) being able to do something about it. At that meeting there was an agreement in principle to explore the possibilities of making improvements.

Nearly two years later and the wheels are in motion! The Asso-ciation has recently signed a leasing agreement with Network Rail to allow us to access the re-dundant platform, and to carry out certain works to improve what is the first, and indeed last, view of Barnstaple that rail pas-sengers enjoy. Subsequent to this, extra safety fencing was erected by Network Rail staff to ensure that members would not access any restricted areas.

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Early in May an initial induction was held by Network Rail for all mem-bers likely to be involved in any of the work carried out. This included a safety briefing and details of what is and is not allowed to be carried out on the site. More details in due course.

If any member wishes to get involved with the work planned to im-prove the appearance of platform 2 please make contact with any of the committee and their name will be added to the list of those requiring a Network Rail safety induction. Unfortunately no-one who has not received this briefing will be allowed to access the sec-ond platform as they will not be covered by our public liability insur-ance and the lease agreement

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Exploring the Line (3) - Lapford Circular route to Filleigh & Eastington. 4.5 miles. After a stiff climb up from the River Yeo, this walk offers fine views as it follows quiet footpaths to the isolated hamlet of Filleigh. The return route follows the north-west side of the Dalch valley. Facilities: Pub and Stores at Lapford. Leave the station and turn left onto the busy A377 main road imme-diately crossing the River Yeo at Lapford Bridge. Take particular care of children. There is little protection for pedestrians, who should walk along the further side of the road, facing the oncoming traffic from Barnstaple. A few metres beyond the river bridge, turn right and uphill along a signed and well surfaced footpath that leads towards the village. (If you’re unencumbered by children or dogs, you may want to walk a few paces further along the road to Barn-staple to admire a very nice old milestone set in the hedge on the same side of the road as the footpath entrance.) The path joins the main street at a bend. Continue straight ahead and uphill to the centre of the village. The climb provides a perfect excuse to stop and rest at the church dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury half-way up the hill. The building dates from the 12th century, and may well have been con-structed by William de Tracey, one of the four knights who mur-dered Thomas a Beckett, as penance for his deed. The interior is reached by an ancient door. The very fine bench ends are 15th century. The rood screen, dating from the early 16th century, is one of the finest in the West Country. Devotees of the macabre may like to know that a 19th Century Lapford rector, John Arundel Radford, was charged with the murder of his curate. He escaped the gallows when he was acquitted by a jury consisting mostly of his parishoners “who’d never hanged a parson yet, and weren’t about to start now!” Radford duly returned to his altar and pulpit for several more years until his death in May, 1867. His last wish, to be buried in the chancel, was not granted by the authorities. His grave lies just outside the door to the vestry. Legends have natu-rally accompanied this bit of local scandal, and it is said there are

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signs that the rector does not rest peacefully: the cross on his grave (along with many others in the churchyard!) cannot be kept from listing to one side; a hole in his grave requires continual filling in; and Radford’s ghost is regularly to be seen prowling the village by night. A few metres beyond the church, at Orchard Cross, take the right hand fork [SP Morchard Bishop & Eastington] and where, shortly beyond, it is joined by a narrow street from the left, bear right. Take the next turning on the left into Park Meadow Close where a stile in the upper hedge gives access to a footpath. Take this and follow it diagonally across several fields to reach a footpath crossroads at Parsonage Farm. Continue straight ahead, diagonally crossing four more fields to reach a lane. Dogleg slightly left across this lane, following the footpath across a further field to pass Great Hole Farm. The footpath continues through fields, briefly through a cop-pice and across several more fields to emerge onto a peaceful lane. Turn right and follow the lane to Lower Filleigh farm, where the lane bends sharply left. Remain at this corner, but glance up the road to Filleigh Barton, the Georgian Farmhouse that presides over the little community. From the corner a signed footpath leads right, through Lower Filleigh farm and across seven or eight fields. 0.6 miles beyond Lower Filleigh at the valley bottom the foopath, now a rough track, takes a sharp right turn to follow a lane past the very pleasant Cobley Farm. The River Dalch -- pronounced “dolsh” -- tumbling along its steep sided valley just a hundred metres or so to your left is also headed for Lapford. After 0.4 miles, the undulating lane passes Lower Eastington Farm on the left to emerge at the East-ington crossroads. Proceed straight across. Lapford lies a mile ahead along the lane whose gateways provide pleasant views back across the Dalch valley to Morchard Bishop’s hilltop church, a land-mark for miles around, and south to the northern hills of Dartmoor. On reaching Lapford village centre, retrace your steps down past the church and through the village to reach the footpath that leads back down to the A377 and the station.

Peter Craske/Alan Clark

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Revealed by the National Archives - the date the Tarka Line was saved

My delve into our national records started with the Beeching Report of 1963. Looking through my own copy, I found that the the report was largely based on a nationwide traffic survey conducted over one week, the week ending 23 April 1961. Given the importance of these surveys, and the fact they were done at a time when record keeping was very well advanced, I thought that they should still exist somewhere. Until shortly after Privatisation, British Rail had its own Records De-partment in Portchester Row, close to Paddington Station. I wish I had gone because what they had there was quite legendary - stacks of pictorial posters, rulebooks from every known British company etc. After it closed, the National Archive took over the records side of things and this material was transferred to their base in Kew, a short walk from Kew Gardens station. So it was with the National Archives and their excellent website www.nationalarchives.co.uk<http://www.nationalarchives.co.uk> that I started. The website includes an searchable index and it is vital to do some homework before leaving for Kew, so you know what to look for. If you have not been before, you will need to sign up for a Reader's Ticket which can be done when you arrive, as long as you have the required two items of ID. Once at Kew and armed with your Reader's Ticket, you can then start delving through the paper indices. When you have identified which files you would like to see, you reserve a seat in the Reading Room and order the files. All of this you do on computer terminals. You can order up to three files at a time and they take up to 45 minutes to ar-rive, but there is a large (and good) cafe downstairs to while away the time. When the files are ready, they are placed in a glass locker marked with your seat number. You pick them up, go to your reserved seat and then you are away.

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Well, unfortunately I didn't find anything as neat as "Reshaping Re-port, April 1961 Traffic Surveys", more's the pity but I did find a lot of other things and I have barely scraped the surface yet, even after three full day visits. There are a lot of Ministry of Transport Line Closure files which are full of invaluable information. I spent at least three hours going through the file relating to the unsuccessful bid to close the Looe line, for ex-ample. Just one gem from that is a detailed report from a local staff rep about operating conditions on the line in the mid 1960s, complete with passenger numbers. BR files are patchy. The Southern is well represented as is the Lon-don Midland, but the Western much less so. It doesn't appear that much from the old Plymouth or Bristol Divisions made it into the re-cords, which is sad. There are some files from the Reshaping Team, the section at BRB Headquarters charged with implementing the Beeching report (and, years on, still adding lines to it). This was headed up by F C Mar-getts, a vastly experienced railwayman who carried out his work with considerable zeal, and it comes through in the files. I picked out two of the "general" files from the Reshaping team - AN 121 287 and AN 121 288. In the index, they are listed as "Withdrawal or Modification of Passenger Services - individual cases" with 287 covering Oct 63 to Apr 67 and 288 covering Dec 66 to Nov 67. Both files had indeed these individual cases, sections on different branch lines around the country, in alphabetical order. Going through 287, I found a section with papers headed Exeter Cen-tral - Okehampton/Ilfracombe. This was all about the condition of the bridges at Cowley Bridge and the need to replace them, at an esti-mated cost of £327,000 (over £4 million at today's prices). There had been meetings from late 1964 on the matter and in a letter of 6 April 1965, Mr Margetts laid out the position to a Mr Scott-Halden at the Ministry of Transport. He said the bridges needed urgent renewal

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and that the necessary expenditure could not be justified. He asked for the Ministry's permission to close the line and withdraw both the Ilfracombe and Okehampton services. Mr Margetts went on to say that British Rail had looked at whether retaining the Taunton line as a way of serving Barnstaple and retaining Launceston, from Plymouth, to re-place Okehampton would be better than renewing the Cowley Bridges, but decided it would not. In the three page letter, Mr Margetts laid it on thick how much of a fi-nancial basket case the Board felt the idea of spending the £327,000 was. He said the bridges might have to be closed at very short notice and bus replacements introduced. But, right at the end, it became clear just why he had gone so strong in the rest of the letter: "From the Board's point of view, therefore, we would have wished to discontinue the remaining passenger services on this line west of Exe-ter Central and put forward proposals to this effect, relying on getting consent before the bridges become unusable.......We could, if it was likely that permission was given under the "sifting" procedure to go ahead with publication now, take the risk involved but this would not make sense if it is likely to be unacceptable - as you mentioned at our meeting - that Barnstaple be left without any service as it might then be after the Taunton line is closed." Just over a month later, on 11 May, there is a note from the Reshap-ing team to the General Manager, Paddington saying that the Minister had decided that the proposals set out in the April 6 letter (ie to put the lines up for closure) were unacceptable at the present time. A month later still, on 10 June, there is a minute from the British Rail-ways Board meeting agreeing to seek Ministerial approval to spend the necessary £304,500 (you will note they had saved £22,500 in two months!), replacing the then four bridges with the two that are there today. It is quite a bad tempered minute wanting to point out to the Minister again that they thought it was a waste of money. So, there you have it. Forget all those angst ridden pieces in railway magazines of the 70s and 80s. In the Spring of 1965, with closures being pursued all over the country and with Beeching still in post, the

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Government said that Barnstaple was not to lose its railway and, with that, the Tarka Line was saved. And I'm still looking for those 1961 traffic surveys!

Richard Burningham

Line closures get better

Another two weeks of line closures for engineering works took place over the period from the 23rd of March to the 3rd of April, with buses replacing trains during the working week. Works that Network Rail carried out this time were re-railing at Chenson and converting to continuous welded rail – approx ⅓ mile; upgrading of bridge timbers near Crediton and Yeoford; upgraded points and new level crossing equipment at Eggesford; lubrication of 10 miles of track joints; drain clearance and cable testing, and flailing at vari-ous sites. On the whole the bus replacement service seemed to be well or-ganised with only the occasional passenger left behind ( 2 at Credi-ton on the first bus from Barnstaple one day in the first week). A back up minibus was used on this service from Lapford to account for any overcapacity in the mornings. The biggest problem was the road works at Crediton which could cause a considerable delay at peak times. The first bus from Barnstaple sometimes arrived at Exeter St David's as late as 0830 so on those days the 0825 ESD - Waterloo was not an achievable connection. Next time there is a blockade the first bus Barnstaple to Exeter certainly needs to leave 10 minutes earlier to arrive at Exeter at the same time as the train would. The next line closure as far as we can gather at the moment will be only one week, from Monday 9th to Friday 13th of November 2009, but we have been tentatively advised that from 2011 the engineer-ing possessions will only run from 23.00 on a Friday night until 05.00 on a Wednesday morning, this however will still lead to some disruption for passengers.

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No more swimming pools!

Those of you who have been unfortunate enough to alight at Umberleigh station during the winter months or during the mon-soon season, have probably regretted the fact that wellington boots or waders were not part of your normal attire, when exit-ing the station. This has been particularly pronounced after dark, when, unless equipped with a torch, you have no idea what you are stepping into, and is also not helped either by in-considerate drivers (usually of 4x4’s) ploughing through hidden puddles.

All this is now a thing of the past, however, as finally, after much debate, and thanks to the combined resources of Devon County Council, and Network Rail, the whole of the station fore-court has been resurfaced, marked out, and proper drainage provided. This is not the end of the improvements though. Cable ducting has been laid for the provision of extra lighting for the area, new noticeboards have been erected, and a brand new station sign on an elegant stainless steel pole has been provided.

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Latest passenger figures

These are the latest available figures for the Tarka Line. Last year ended up as the best year ever, and those for this year so far are even better despite there being no winter cheap fare promotion.

Pe

rio

d

2006

20

07

2008

20

09

% 0

7 -

08

%

08

- 0

9

1

(9

Jan

- 5

Feb

) 18

.036

17

.952

21

.340

22

.253

1

8.8

7

4.2

8

2

(6

Feb

- 5

Mar

) 22

.050

18

.924

26

.461

26

.146

3

9.8

3

-1.1

9

3

(6

Mar

- 3

1 M

ar)

16.0

88

18.2

07

20.9

31

25.7

93

14.9

6

23.2

3

4

(1

Apr

- 3

0 A

pr)

22.5

45

22.5

64

24.5

60

8

.85

5

(1M

ay -

28

May

) 21

.982

22

.741

25

.442

11.8

8

6

(29

May

- 2

5 Ju

n)

23.5

60

26.0

04

27.8

92

7

.26

7

(26

Jun

- 2

3 Ju

l) 26

.198

25

.320

30

.271

19.5

5

8

(24

Jul

- 20

Aug

) 31

.064

29

.400

34

.216

16.3

8

9

(21

Aug

- 1

7 S

ep)

29.6

15

27.6

33

32.7

35

1

8.4

6

10

(18

Sep

- 1

5 O

ct)

26.8

41

24.4

81

27.9

20

1

4.0

5

11

(16

Oct

- 1

2 N

ov)

23.8

49

26.6

58

29.2

20

9

.61

12

(13

Nov

- 10

Dec

) 24

.872

20

.218

21

.229

5.0

0

13

(11

Dec

- 7

Jan)

19

.469

21

.028

25

.676

22.1

0

Tot

al

306.

169

301.

131

347.

893

74.1

92

22

Tarka Line Walks

Monday the 6th of April saw the fruition of much time and effort ex-pended on the planning, creation, and publication of the definitive walks book for the Tarka Line. Exeter St Davids was the setting for the official launch, and in atten-dance was Tarka the Otter, a jazz band, members of the Exe Valley Ramblers, and schoolchildren, together with representatives of Devon County Council, First Great Western, and the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership.

Following the launch at St Davids the whole party travelled by train to Barnstaple where a photo shoot for the local press took place, followed by refreshments at the Stationmasters Café The Walks booklet has been written and produced by Peter Craske and Alan Clark over a period of 4 months, and has been well supported

From left to right : Peter Craske - Author; Richard Burningham - Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership; Tarka the Otter, Julian Crow - First Great Western; Cllr Nick Way - Devon County Council;

John Phillips - Tarka Rail Association chairman

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financially by First Great Western, Devon County Council, Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership, and Passenger Focus, to all of whom we extend our grateful thanks.

In addition to the booklet, which is available by request to Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership, there is a general distribution leaflet which includes a sample walk, and details of how to request the main booklet. These are being distributed across the First Great Western network.

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News update and Miscellany

Passenger trains started running again on the Dartmoor Railway (now un-der the management of IOWA Pacific Railways as British American Rail-ways) on 10/4/09, after a year’s absence, between Okehampton and Mel-don Quarry, initially at weekends, using the refurbished & repainted 2 car ex SR Diesel electric ‘Berkshire’ multiple unit. The buffet and model shop at Okehampton station are also both open again. It is planned for this summer’s Dartmoor Sunday Rover passengers to use North Devon trains to Yeoford and then interchange with Dartmoor Railway trains for Okehampton and vice versa, instead of separate Exeter to Oke-hampton trains as has been the case for several years. However due to delays in execution of the scheme to make alterations and provision of pedestrian access to the disused former down platform at Yeo-ford this plan is subject to temporary alteration in the form of substitute buses between Exeter & Okehampton station. For full up to date details please contact Dartmoor Railway on 01837 55164. Due to a reduction in the Network Rail track renewals for the current 2009/10 financial year (in the hope that NR Renewals contractors can come up with speedier and cheaper quotes for carrying out work) the last trains of ballast for the foreseeable future ran from Meldon Quarry (to West-bury) at the end of March 2009. This reduction in renewals work has caused the deferment of the track re-newal scheduled at Chapelton for the recent March blockade which, de-spite the now all too regular inconvenience to passengers of ‘bustitution’, regrettably saw no significant renewals/infrastructure work take place. Rail freight continues to hang on, almost by a thread, in the South West with no regular revenue earning traffic to Devon & Cornwall other than the weekly as required train of cement to Moorswater and just a reduced vol-ume of clay traffic internally and long distance from Cornwall, a current once or twice a month train of sand from Burngullow to Bow in London for the Olympic extravaganza and weekly consignments of scrap from Ply-mouth and St Blazey.

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Steady progress continues with the establishment of a small operational railway Heritage centre at Torrington station which now has track extended throughout the former Up platform and contains former Marland Clay works Fowler 1945 built 0-4-0 diesel shunter ‘Progress’ (transferred from Bodmin Road and in working order), Mark I open second coach, open Clay Hood wagon and a BR standard Freight Brake Van.

Tony Hill

Summertime on the Tarka Line

© Ian Walmsley

Ian Walmsley is an associate member of the Guild of Railway Artists and read-ers may like to check out his web site at www.whamart.co.uk where there are further examples of his excellent cartoons as well as his many oil paintings of railway subjects.

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Membership Matters

If you know someone who you think might like to join the Tarka Rail Association, please contact the Membership Secretary whose ad-dress is shown opposite.

New Members

We welcome:

Mr B Phillips—Copplestone Mr D Phillips—Copplestone Mrs C Coombs—South Zeal

Mr J Olsson—Ilfracombe Mr J Cooper—Exeter

Mr C Masters—Exmouth

Committee Meetings (Members Welcome)

Wednesday 17th June—Barnstaple Station House 19:30

Wednesday 15th July—Gables Tea Rooms Umberleigh 19:00

Wednesday 19th August—Fox & Hounds, Eggesford 19:00

Wednesday 16th September—Barnstaple Station House 19:30

Wednesday 14th October—Provisional date for AGM

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Committee Members Chairman:

John Phillips Higher Living Farmhouse, Down St Mary, Crediton, Devon, EX17 6EA. j.phillips142@btinternet.com

Treasurer:

Andy Hedges 20 Barton Meadow Road, High Bickington, Umberleigh Devon, EX37 9AN. andyhedges@gmail.com

Press And Publicity Officers:

Peter Craske Blackhall Cottage, South Tawton, Devon EX20 2LP pcbcraske@yahoo.com Sally Greene 28 South Park, Braunton, Barnstaple, Devon EX33 2HT sallygreene@tiscali.co.uk

Bus & Coach Liaison: John Burch Avercombe, 28 Belmont Road Ilfracombe Devon EX34 8DR johnaburch@btinternet.com

Secretary & Vice Chairman: Tony Hill Langridge, Ingleigh Green, Winkleigh. Devon, EX19 8AT tony@hillglobal.wanadoo.co.uk

Membership Secretary:

Andy Hedges 20 Barton Meadow Road, High Bickington, Umberleigh Devon, EX37 9AN. andyhedges@gmail.com

Magazine Editor:

Andy Hedges 20 Barton Meadow Road, High Bickington, Umberleigh, Devon EX37 9AN andyhedges@gmail.com

Stations Officer:

Janet Day Toye Farm, Durrant Lane, Northam,

Bideford, Devon EX39 2RL

Committee Members:

Alan Clark Benslee, Morchard Road, Crediton, Devon EX17 5LR Mike Day Toye Farm, Durrant Lane, Northam, Bideford, Devon EX39 2RL Phil Simkin Puffing Billy, Railway Station, Torrington, Devon EX38 8JD

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© Authors And Publishers, Tarka Rail Association, 2009