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Tarka Line
File:Tarkalinelogo.jpg
Crossing the Exe at Cowley Bridge
Overview
Status	Open
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	Devon, England
Termini	Exeter St Davids 50°43′45″N 3°32′38″W / 50.7291°N 3.5438°W / 50.7291; -3.5438 (Exeter St Davids station) Barnstaple 51°04′26″N 4°03′49″W / 51.0740°N 4.0635°W / 51.0740; -4.0635 (Barnstaple station)
Stations	13
Service
Type	Community rail
System	National Rail
Operator(s)	Great Western Railway
Depot(s)	Exeter TMD
Rolling stock	Class 150 or Class 158 DMUs
History
Opened	1851–1854
Technical
Line length	39 mi (62.76 km)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Old gauge	7 ft 1⁄4 in (2,140 mm) Brunel gauge

The Tarka Line, also known as the North Devon Line, is a local railway line in Devon, England, linking the city of Exeter with the town of Barnstaple via a number of local villages. The Tarka Line runs between Barnstaple and Exeter St Davids, but trains continue along the eastern Avocet Line to terminate at St James Park. Services are operated by Great Western Railway (GWR), and the majority of stations on the line are request stops. In the summer the Dartmoor Railway runs alongside the Tarka Line between Exeter and Yeoford while on summer Sundays GWR services from Exeter operate through to the Dartmoor Railway. The railway broadly follows the route of the A377 road and the River Taw.

The first train services between Barnstaple and Exeter were operated in 1854 by the North Devon Railway (NDR), though the track south of Crediton was owned by the distinct Exeter and Crediton Railway (E&CR), which had the permission of the Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) to connect to its station at Exeter St Davids. The NDR was taken over by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) in 1865, and while the E&CR remained nominally independent, the majority of its shares were owned by the LSWR and the B&ER. The section south of Crediton became part of the LSWR in 1876.

Following the passage of the Railways Act 1921, the LSWR was merged into the Southern Railway, and twenty years later the line became part of the Southern Region of British Rail. When British Rail was privatised the line was taken over by Wessex Trains, who gave it the name Tarka Line after the eponymous otter in Henry Williamson's book Tarka the Otter and introduced Class 150 Sprinters and Class 143 Pacers. The line was transferred to First Great Western in 2006, who rebranded as GWR in 2015 and replaced the 143s with Class 158 Express Sprinters in 2019.

History

Early proposals

The first proposals relating to what would become the Tarka Line originated in the 1820s, when it was proposed that a railway line might be built from Crediton to Exeter Quay. Authority was obtained to build this line by an Act of 1831, but construction never started and the powers lapsed. However, business interests in Crediton became interested in a railway again after the Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) reached Exeter in 1844 and the South Devon Railway started extending that line to Plymouth. In 1844, the Exeter and Crediton Railway (E&CR) was formed and a proposal was put forward for a new line to connect Crediton to the B&ER. This proposal was accepted and authority was granted by an Act of 1845. The new company had capital of £70,000 (around £8.5 million in modern money), and made arrangements with the B&ER for the latter's trains to run to Crediton along the former's tracks.

Meanwhile, a proposal from business interests in Barnstaple was put forward in 1845 to build a new line connecting their town to the B&ER at Exeter. This proposal was rejected by the Railway Commission (led by the Lord Dalhousie), as they wished to defer the decision on linking Barnstaple to the national railway network in order to appraise an alternative proposal by the B&ER, who wished to construct a line that would run between Barnstaple and their station at Tiverton.

Wessex Trains and First Great Western

On 13 October 1996, the Tarka Line was taken over by Wales & West, controlled by Prism Rail. National Express purchased Wales & West from Prism Rail in July 2000 and on 14 October 2001 rebranded Wales & West as Wessex Trains after the Strategic Rail Authority transferred the company's Welsh services to Wales and Borders.

Sponsored by the North Devon tourist board, Wessex Trains renamed unit 150241 to The Tarka Belle and changed its livery to advertising for tourist destinations on the Tarka Line.

GWR

Stations

The Tarka Line leaves Exeter St Davids to the north, and then turns to the west, running through Newton St Cyres, Crediton and Yeoford, and then remainder of the line runs north-west through Copplestone, Morchard Road, Lapford, Eggesford, Kings Nympton, Umberleigh, Chapelton and Barnstaple.

• Newton St Cyres which serves Newton St Cyres but is situated in the hamlet of Sweetham, around ten minutes walk from the centre of Newton St Cyres. Due to the height difference between trains and the platform, passengers are only permitted to alight at the station under supervision from the guard.
• Crediton which serves the town of Crediton. It has station buildings designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The station has used nineteenth-century LSWR colours since 2007. There is a tea room at the station.
• Yeoford
• Copplestone
• Morchard Road
• Lapford
• Eggesford
• Kings Nympton which serves Burrington, King's Nympton (along with Queen's Nympton and Bishop's Nympton), South Molton, and several smaller nearby areas. It is situated several miles from Kings Nympton at a road junction called Fortescue Cross and is around one mile along the A377 road away from the hamlets of Head Bridge and Colleton Mills.
• Umberleigh
• Chapelton
• Barnstaple

Services

Passenger services on the line are operated by Great Western Railway using Class 150 or Class 158 diesel multiple units. During the summer months a Sunday-only service operates (on behalf of Devon County Council) between Exeter Central and Okehampton.

Passenger volume

The majority of passengers on the Tarka Line travel to or from Barnstaple – about three times the number of all the other stations north of Exeter. Portsmouth Arms is the quietest station in Devon. Some of the smaller stations have seen a decline in passenger numbers during the last few years, although there have been significant increases at Umberleigh, Eggesford, and Copplestone and on the line overall with passenger numbers more than tripled since 2001.

Community rail

The Tarka Line is named after the otter in Henry Williamson's book Tarka the Otter which is set in the area. It is one of the railway lines supported by the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership, an organisation formed in 1991 to promote railway services in the area. The line is promoted by many means such as regular timetable and scenic line guides, as well as leaflets highlighting leisure opportunities such as walking or visiting country pubs.

The Tarka Line rail ale trail was launched in 2002, the first of several such schemes which encourages rail travellers to visit pubs near the line. The trail originally covered 16 pubs, and the number has risen and fallen over the years, but in 2020 is 11 pubs. There are three pubs in Exeter and five in Barnstaple, with one each at Lapford, Portsmouth Arms, and Umberleigh. 10 stamps collected in the Rail Ale Trail leaflet entitle the participant to claim special Tarka Line Rail Trail souvenir tour shirt.

Wessex Trains covered Class 150 2-car DMU number 150241 in coloured pictures promoting the line and named The Tarka Belle. It is still in service with Great Western Railway (Formerly First Great Western) but is no longer in that livery.

The line was designated by the Department for Transport as a community rail line in September 2006. This aims to increase revenue and reduce costs. Among possible options are increasing the car parking at stations, looking at ways to increase the train frequency and facilities at stations.

Working

v t e Tarka Line
Legend
Exeter–Plymouth line to Penzance & Riviera Line to Paignton West of England line to Basingstoke & Avocet Line to Exmouth Exeter St Davids ¾ Red Cow Level Crossing Riverside Yard Cowley Bridge Junction Bristol–Exeter line to Taunton River Exe Newton St Cyres 4¼ Crediton 6¾ Crediton Level Crossing Salmon Pool Level Crossing Yeoford 10½ Coleford Junction 11½ Dartmoor line to Okehampton Copplestone 13½ Morchard Road 15¾ Lapford 17½ Eggesford Level Crossing Eggesford 21¼ Kings Nympton 25¼ Portsmouth Arms 28¼ River Taw Umberleigh Level Crossing Umberleigh 32¼ River Taw Chapelton 34¾ Langham Lake River Taw Pill Bridge Devon and Somerset Railway to Taunton GW Line Junction Barnstaple 39¾ Ilfracombe Line Junction Ilfracombe branch line to Ilfracombe North Devon Railway to Bideford

No-signaller token remote working

Parts of the line are single track, meaning that trains travelling in opposite directions must sometimes wait for each other. Collisions are prevented on these sections by requiring the train crew to be in possession of a physical token released from an electrically operated apparatus at a station under a system known as no signaller token remote working. The full journey from Barnstaple to Exeter takes just over 1 hour, much the same as the journey time in a car.

See also

• Tarka Trail
• West of England Main Line

References

1. Nicholas, John (20 July 1992). The North Devon Line: Exeter to Barnstaple Railway from Inception to the Present Day. O.P.C. Railprint. ISBN 978-0860934615.
2. "Exeter to Barnstaple" (PDF). Great Western Railway. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
3. http://great-devon-railway.uk/exeter%20%26%20crediton%20railway/index.html
4. "Station Usage". Rail Statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
5. Falconer, Kieran (6 September 2009). "All abroad the real ale train". Express. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
6. Hancock, Nick (16 September 2009). "Rail ale drinkers are back on right track". Express and Echo. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
7. "Tarka Line Rail Ale Trail". Great Scenic Railways. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
8. Gordon D. Webster (15 November 2016). Signal Boxes and Semaphores: The Decline. Amberley Publishing. p. 88. ISBN 978-1-4456-5618-2.

• Nicholas, John (1992). The North Devon Line. Sparkford: Oxford Publishing Company. ISBN 0-86093-461-6.
• Department for Transport, Rail Group (2006), Route prospectus for the ... Tarka Line'

External links

Download coordinates as:

• KML
• GPX (all coordinates)
• GPX (primary coordinates)
• GPX (secondary coordinates)

• Tarka Rail Association

v t e Railway lines in the South West
Primary	Cross Country Route Bristol Cheltenham Great Western Main Line Bristol Bath Spa Chippenham Swindon (fast services principal stations only)
Secondary	To London South West Main Line (from Weymouth) Reading–Taunton line (from Taunton) West of England line (from Exeter) Others Atlantic Coast Line Avocet Line Bristol–Exeter line Cornish Main Line Cotswold Line Dartmoor line Exeter–Plymouth line Gloucester–Newport line Golden Valley line Heart of Wessex Line Henbury Loop Looe Valley Line Lostwithiel to Fowey Maritime Line Portishead branch Riviera Line St Ives Bay Line Severn Beach line Tamar Valley Line Tarka Line Wessex Main Line
Heritage	Avon Valley Railway Bristol Harbour Railway Bodmin and Wenford Railway East Somerset Railway Dartmouth Steam Railway Dean Forest Railway Helston Railway Plym Valley Railway South Devon Railway Swanage Railway Swindon & Cricklade Railway West Somerset Railway

50°53′38″N 3°52′42″W / 50.8939°N 3.8783°W / 50.8939; -3.8783

• Rail transport in Devon
• Scenic railway lines in Devon and Cornwall
• Community railway lines in England
• Transport in Exeter
• Railway lines in South West England
• Standard gauge railways in England