Early railway days

The fact that Bideford is on the railway has received a certain amount of publicity recently.

In last Sunday’s Observer Paul Jennings wrote of the air of far-away places at Waterloo Station suggesting that ‘we are doing something much more wonderful than just going to Bideford, splendid though this is.’ Later he remarks on the ‘lines stretching out to Bideford and Europe.’

Mr Jennings visited Bideford as a member of the Oriana Madrigal Society when they gave a recital at Bideford Parish Church on November 19.

It seems appropriate to publish this reproduction of an old print of early days of the railway alongside the Torridge.

Gazette article 27 January 1950