Train returns to Westleigh straight

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.

Train returns to Westleigh straight

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

 

 

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