Newton Abbot to Moretonhampstead line

[Kris]

Part of the Newton Abbot to Moretonhampstead line (between Lustleigh and Moretonhampstead) will soon be reopening as a cycle path. I was able to see some of the work that they have done so far whilst out yesterday. The new bridge that they have put in over the A382 just outside of Moretonhampstead looks very sympathetic to the railway heritage. Whilst obviously not as good as being able to travel down the line by train it will mean that you will be able to get a feel of what it would have been like.

[Torn-on-the-platform]

A very interesting line with a lot of the original buildings still in tact. It would have been an ideal location for a preservation attempt when it first closed, though I believe that the road covers the track bed as it passes Bovey. I look foward to seeing the new bridges when I visit in over the Easter weekend. Not a very long cycle route though...

[JohnR]

The line should never have been closed - it was a very marginal loss-maker ni any case, and a few savings could have made it viable and even have provided a better service to passengers.

 

Just think of how many cars drive onto the Moor nowadays because theres no decent public transport.

[Kris]

A very interesting line with a lot of the original buildings still in tact. It would have been an ideal location for a preservation attempt when it first closed, though I believe that the road covers the track bed as it passes Bovey. I look foward to seeing the new bridges when I visit in over the Easter weekend. Not a very long cycle route though...

 

The route is meant to be one that links the South Hams to Okehampton, which with the work going on there building up a cycle path on the old North Cornwall route makes for a longer ride. The lines route through Bovey is the bypass now.

 

 

 

[Torn-on-the-platform]

Just think of how many cars drive onto the Moor nowadays because theres no decent public transport.

 

Not helped by the larger vehicles that also drive along the route, not just those of Thompson's who now occupy the Moretonhampstead station site. I often get trapped behind coaches and tankers. It's not the safest road at the best of times with large amounts of blind single track road and a national speed limit, which some drivers seem to see as a challenge rather than a maximum speed.

 

Moretonhampstead would perhaps lose alot of its charm though if it were served by modern day units, though I think that it would still benefit the community. There's a good community spirit in the village/town and I think that the railway would be well supported, even moreso if it were a steam line. It would also have a connection to the mainline too, and Thompson's have shown that there was plenty of room for expansion around the Moretonhampstead station site to provide a more than adequate base for operations.

 

I'm a South Eastern man, but the learning the history of the line has ignited some interest in the GWR. It has become a consideration of mine that I model the Moretonhampstead line as a 'what if it had been preserved' scenario, though I think that my first steps into detailed modelling will be based on something closer to home.

 

The route is meant to be one that links the South Hams to Okehampton, which with the work going on there building up a cycle path on the old North Cornwall route makes for a longer ride.

 

Come to think of it, over Christmas there were signs out to warn of disruption to some of the smaller country lanes as they built the cycle trail beyond Moretonhampstead.

[JohnR]

At the time of closure, there was a campaign to replace 2 trains which left Newton Abbot either side of rush hour with one leaving at 5.40pm which would be better loaded than the 2 others combined. There were also proposals from the campaigners to run through trains from Paignton and Torquay during the summer to attract holiday visitors to the moors.

[Torn-on-the-platform]

I took these photos over the easter weekend!

 

The other bridge is yet to be started.

 

[The Stationmaster]

The line should never have been closed - it was a very marginal loss-maker ni any case, and a few savings could have made it viable and even have provided a better service to passengers.

 

 

I would have thought that an annual loss of £17,000 was hardly 'marginal' back in 1959 - I doubt if the operating cost of the passenger service was very much more than that in total? I don't have a timetable for 1959 but I note that the weekday service had declined to 7 trains each way by 1952 indicating a probable drop in passenger numbers since the 9 trains per day in 1950 (plus back then an extra, late, train on Saturdays). Equally I don't know about competing 'bus services but having a station a quarter of a mile from the town would - I suspect - have not been too attractive to local passengers especially anyone wishing to go shopping in Newton where the station lies at the 'wrong' end of the town.