But green light for freight

Although there seems no hope of the Bideford to Barnstaple line ever carrying passenger trains regularly, it is possibly unique in the economic role it plays.

Depending on circumstances one train make two trips daily, Monday to Friday, between Barnstaple and Peters Marland and Meeth, with stops at Torrington for the Unigate milk factory, before returning to Barnstaple and ending with a trip to Exeter.

Aptly it has been described as ‘a maid of all work.’

One man who refuses to believe that a regular passenger service is ‘not on’ is Mr Roger Joanes, of

Presentation of a power drill and attachments was made at Bideford station

on Monday on behalf of the station staffs at Bideford and Instow to Mr W J O Hatherell, who has retired after 49 years' railway service, the last 11 as stationmaster at Bideford (with Instow).

The gift was handed to him by the relief stationmaster, Mr F Barrow.

Among those present were Mr L Somerfield (stationmaster, Torrington), Mr H Braunton and Mr T Colwill.

Mr Hatherell, who lives at 9 Alverdiscott Road, retired earlier this month.

Gazette article dated 26 June 1964

From Westward Ho! to Abbotsham Cliffs

New life of the Bideford-Westward Ho! railway track – disused since the middle of the first world war – is envisaged in a more proposal reported to Northam Urban Council.

The Clerk, Mr L B Galliford, told the Council a Birmingham firm, specialising in the operation of miniature railways had submitted proposals to use a stretch of the old Bideford-Westward Ho! railway track starting from near the Bath Hotel and running out to the Council’s boundary and Abbotsham Cliffs. The firm realised they would have to enter into agreements with various owners of lengths of the

Westward Ho! Railway Conspiracy

Bideford-Westward Ho!-Appledore Railway - Is there a conspiracy?

Did the engines sink or see service near the front line?

Early in 1917, the line was commandeered by the Government and a temporary line was laid from Bideford Quay across the bridge to a goods yard in East-the-Water.
Lieut-Colonel E V Thompson said that engines were loaded on to SS Gotterdammerung at Avonmouth and were destroyed when the ship was torpedoed by a U-boat off the Cornish coast. Hunslett Engine Co. and others claim that the engines were despatched to Pembrey in South Wales for shipment to the

The last train to carry passengers both ways on the Barnstaple-Torrington route will leave Torrington for Bideford at 7.45pm and Bideford for Barnstaple at 7.54pm tomorrow.

Although a train leaves Barnstaple at 9.40pm and Bideford for Torrington at 9.58, it returns from Torrington empty. The occasion will not pass unmarked.
The Mayor of Bideford, Mrs Ethelwynne Brown, will be on the station to say farewell to the 7.54pm train. The occasion, she pointed to the Gazette, was certainly not one for celebration. ‘But the least I can do as Mayor is to thank the staff for past services for which

Bideford - Westward Ho! - Appledore Railway

Facts & Figures

Hunslet Engine Co. Ltd of Leeds built 2-4-2 tank engines called 'Grenville', 'Kingsley' and 'Torridge' which each weighed 27 tons in working order. Each driving wheel was 3 feet, 3 inches. A minimum radius of curve of 160 feet was recommended, and 500 gallons of water and 18cwt of coal could be carried.
Bristol Carriage & Wagon Works, based at Lawrence Hill, constructed the carriages and coaches. They also built and supplied carriages for the Ffestiniog Railway, and the Lynton and Barnsaple Railway. There were two 3rd class carriages which were 66

Bideford, Westward Ho! & Appledore Railway Co.

The train service on Sundays will be discontinued after October 10th 1915 and resumed on May 7th 1916
Henry Sowden, General Manager

Traders protest 'district gets worst rail carriages' 3rd February 1961

Holiday makers going on to the platform at Waterloo bound for the Westcountry invariably find the worst carriages earmarked for the Bideford-Barnstaple area, says a letter of protest sent to British Railways by Bideford and District Chamber of Trade.  The secretary, Mr C C Prust said the MP for Torrington Division, Mr Percy Browne was also being asked to take the matter up.

'Save railway' fight still goes on 22nd January 1965

When local M.P.'s and South Western rail chiefs were lunching they were interupted by Mr Roger Crowther, chairman of the Torridge Railway Users' Action Committee.

M.P.s, Mr Peter Mills and Mr Jeremy Thorpe, were discussing with south west rail executives the future of the Barnstaple - Torrington and Barnstaple - Ilfracombe railway lines.

Discussion took place on the special inspection train of the general manager of British Railways Western Region, Mr G F Fiennes.  In the photograph he is greeting Mr Mills.  Other executives on board were Mr J Flynn; Mr G Phillip;

Believed to be the first Bidefordian to qualify for the Southern Railway Gold Medal for long service, Mr John Henry Sharley, 9 Chudleigh Avenue, Bideford, completed fifty years’ railway service on February 28th.

He hopes to retire on April 1st. Mr Sharley was Mayor of Bideford during the war years 1942-44.

He commenced work in the uniformed goods department at Bideford Railway station the same department to which he later returned as a higher grade clerk, on Ladysmith Day, 1900. In all he has served under ten station masters. Disappointed to find, on his return to Bideford, that interest in football was

Torrington man’s 48 years on railway

It is nearly 40 years since Mr Herbert Steer first walked from his home in New Street, Torrington, down the hill to the railway station and thence along the track to the signal box.
That has since been his daily routine, but on March 13th he will leave the box for the last time. The next day he will begin a fortnight’s leave and will then retire after having served on the railway for 48 years.
It was on October 14th 1912 that Mr Steer began to work for the London and South West

200 passengers give the Halwill line a closure in style 

It is a long since the queue for tickets at Torrington railway station stretched from the booking office out and down the platform.

About 200 people filled the last public passenger train from Torrington on the Torrington-Halwill line, and there can be few, if any, occasions when more passengers have been carried since its opening as a full scale line in 1925.

Passengers included members of Plymouth, Exeter and Launceston Railway societies and a contingent of 32 boys from the Transport Society of Grenville College, Bideford, led by Mr D

End of an era - Bideford's last coal truck 17th September 1965

This is a picture for the archives of the last coal truck to be unloaded at Bideford railway goods yard.

The occasion also marked the last trip to the railhead from the Westcombe yard of Messrs Littlejohns Bros. of the 'jumbo' crane, which has been making the journey since 1955.