Special train chartered
Years ago the sight of a passenger train thundering along the Westleigh straight between Instow and Bideford was such a common one that it hardly rated a second glance. Except for a period of temporary service after Bideford Bridge collapsed, nine years have elapsed since passengers last travelled along a stretch which, when the tide is full, can have few pictorial equals in the Westcountry.
Last weekend the line between Barnstaple and Torrington again experienced passenger travel as a train specially chartered by the Bristol Railway Correspondents and Travel Society made a nostalgic journey alongside Taw and Torridge. Passengers met friends of the North Devon Preservation Society who are hooping to re-open the branch line between Barnstaple and Ilfracombe, provided sufficient capital can be raised.
Gazette article 26 April 1974