Tarka Line

The Tarka Line, also known as the North Devon Line,[1] is a local railway line in Devon, England, linking the city of Exeter with the town of Barnstaple via a number of local villages. Services on the Tarka Line are operated by the Great Western Railway (GWR) and continue across Exeter to terminate at St James Park.[2] In the summer the Dartmoor Railway runs alongside the Tarka Line between Exeter and Yeoford while on summer Sundays GWR services from Exeter operate through to the Dartmoor Railway. The railway broadly follows the route of the A377 road and the River Taw.

Tarka Line
Crossing the Exe at Cowley Bridge
Overview
Type	Community rail
System	National Rail
Status	Open
Locale	Devon, England
Termini	Exeter St Davids 50.7291°N 3.5438°W / 50.7291; -3.5438 (Exeter St Davids station) Barnstaple 51.0740°N 4.0635°W / 51.0740; -4.0635 (Barnstaple station)
Stations	13
Operation
Opened	1851–1854
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	Great Western Railway
Depot(s)	Exeter TMD
Rolling stock	Class 150 or Class 158 DMUs
Technical
Line length	39 mi (62.76 km)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Old gauge	7 ft ^1⁄4 in (2,140 mm) Brunel gauge

The first train services between Barnstaple and Exeter were operated in 1854 by the North Devon Railway (NDR), though the track south of Crediton was owned by the distinct Exeter and Crediton Railway (E&CR), which had the permission of the Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) to connect to its station at Exeter St Davids. The NDR was taken over by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) in 1865, and while the E&CR remained nominally independent, the majority of its shares were owned by the LSWR and the B&ER. The section south of Crediton became part of the LSWR in 1876.

Following the passage of the Railways Act 1921, the LSWR was merged into the Southern Railway, and twenty years later the line became part of the Western Region of British Rail. When British Rail was privatised the line was taken over by Wessex Trains, who gave it the name Tarka Line after the eponymous otter in Henry Williamson's book Tarka the Otter and introduced the Class 150 Sprinters and Class 143 Pacers. The line was transferred to First Great Western in 2006, who rebranded as the Great Western Railway in 2015.

History

Main article: North Devon Railway

Early proposals

The first proposals relating to what would become the Tarka Line originated in the 1820s, when it was proposed that a railway line might be built from Crediton to the docks at Exeter Quayside. Authority was obtained to build this line by an Act of 1831, but the railway was never started and the powers lapsed. However, business interests in Crediton became interested in a railway again after the Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) reached Exeter in 1844 and the South Devon Railway started extending that line to Plymouth. In 1844, the Exeter and Crediton Railway (E&CR) was formed and a proposal was put forward for a new line to connect Crediton to the B&ER.[3] This proposal was accepted and authority was granted by an Act of 1845. The new company had capital of £70,000 (around £8.5 million in modern money), and made arrangements with the B&ER for the latter's trains to run beyond Exeter and along their track to Crediton.

Meanwhile, a proposal from business interests in Barnstaple was put forward in 1845 to build a new line connecting their town to the B&ER at Exeter. This proposal was rejected by the Railway Commission (led by the Lord Dalhousie), as they wished to defer the decision on linking Barnstaple to the national railway network in order to appraise an alternative proposal by the B&ER, who wished to construct a line that would run between Barnstaple and Tiverton, some way up their line towards Bristol.

Route

Communities served: Exeter – Newton St. Cyres – Crediton – Yeoford – Copplestone – Morchard Bishop – Lapford – Eggesford – King's Nympton – Umberleigh – Tawstock – Barnstaple

Parts of the line are single track, meaning that trains travelling in opposite directions must sometimes wait for each other. Collisions are prevented on these sections by requiring the train crew to be in possession of a physical token released from an electrically operated apparatus at a station under a system known as no signaller token remote working.[4] The full journey from Barnstaple to Exeter takes just over 1 hour, much the same as the journey time in a car.

Services

Passenger services on the line are operated by Great Western Railway using Class 150 or Class 158 diesel multiple units. During the summer months a Sunday-only service operates (on behalf of Devon County Council) between Exeter Central and Okehampton.

Passenger volume

The majority of passengers on the Tarka Line travel to or from Barnstaple – about three times the number of all the other stations north of Exeter. Portsmouth Arms is the quietest station in Devon. Some of the smaller stations have seen a decline in passenger numbers during the last few years, although there have been significant increases at Umberleigh, Eggesford, and Copplestone and on the line overall with passenger numbers more than tripled since 2001. [5]

Station usage
Station name	2002–03	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11	2011–12	2012–13	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19
Newton St Cyres	1,147	702	780	889	1,662	1,868	1,784	2,774	3,212	2,252	2,760	2,510	2,082	2,940	2,468
Crediton	21,607	22,478	22,550	24,021	27,422	32,344	36,784	44,074	48,978	43,016	50,342	52,492	55,112	58,390	56,006
Yeoford	7,993	6,883	6,848	7,701	7,445	7,946	10,504	12,948	14,164	13,746	15,588	17,128	16,450	18,580	18,156
Copplestone	1,231	356	1,090	2,283	4,563	7,422	8,164	10,024	12,682	10,990	14,058	13,476	12,304	13,522	15,262
Morchard Road	4,676	3,442	2,712	2,341	2,904	4,170	6,482	8,834	11,456	11,494	11,416	11,822	12,222	13,210	12,134
Lapford	4,912	2,104	1,658	2,208	1,967	2,058	1,878	2,374	2,062	1,796	2,354	2,704	2,252	2,262	1,498
Eggesford	11,430	14,152	16,009	18,184	18,658	21,298	22,858	25,500	26,902	30,062	26,160	29,106	29,920	28,902	31,628
King's Nympton	4,013	2,400	1,781	1,009	1,033	1,542	1,984	2,578	3,006	4,482	3,748	3,422	5,758	8,030	6,640
Portsmouth Arms	614	372	510	667	1,012	844	676	936	884	694	844	1,510	756	518	444
Umberleigh	7,951	8,301	10,408	12,564	13,811	16,256	17,718	19,808	22,774	31,454	34,210	37,609	31,324	37,076	34,784
Chapelton	734	472	161	120	208	176	162	190	190	258	232	192	100	566	188
Barnstaple	176,682	194,474	210,846	238,082	261,174	283,920	302,998	342,328	372,438	382,186	384,234	427,394	421,346	443,450	440,404
The annual passenger usage is based on sales of tickets in stated financial years from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. The statistics are for passengers arriving and departing from each station and cover twelve month periods that start in April. Methodology may vary year on year. Barking and Blackhorse Road are affected by usage of the ticket gates for the underground and that Gospel Oak connects to the North London Line section of the London Overground and is similarly affected. Barking is further affected by the ticket gates used to access C2C services.

Community rail

Tarka Line
Exeter–Plymouth line to Penzance & Riviera Line to Paignton West of England line to Basingstoke & Avocet Line to Exmouth Exeter St Davids ¾ Red Cow Level Crossing Riverside Yard Cowley Bridge Junction Bristol–Exeter line to Taunton River Exe Newton St Cyres 4¼ Crediton 6¾ Crediton Level Crossing Salmon Pool Level Crossing Yeoford 10½ Coleford Junction 11½ ‡ Sampford Courtenay ‡ Okehampton Dartmoor Railway & Exeter–Plymouth line (LSWR) Copplestone 13½ Morchard Road 15¾ Lapford 17½ Eggesford Level Crossing Eggesford 21¼ King's Nympton 25¼ Portsmouth Arms 28¼ River Taw Umberleigh Level Crossing Umberleigh 32¼ River Taw Chapelton 34¾ Langham Lake River Taw Pill Bridge Devon and Somerset Railway to Taunton GW Line Junction Barnstaple 39¾ Ilfracombe Line Junction Ilfracombe branch line to Ilfracombe North Devon Railway to Bideford
Stations marked with ‡ only operate on summer Sundays only and are on the Dartmoor Railway. Mileage from Exeter St Davids railway station

Advertising on 150241 The Tarka Belle

The Tarka Line is named after the otter in Henry Williamson's book Tarka the Otter which is set in the area. It is one of the railway lines supported by the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership, an organisation formed in 1991 to promote railway services in the area. The line is promoted by many means such as regular timetable and scenic line guides, as well as leaflets highlighting leisure opportunities such as walking or visiting country pubs.

The Tarka Line rail ale trail was launched in 2002, the first of several such schemes which encourages rail travellers to visit pubs near the line. The trail originally covered 16 pubs, and the number has risen and fallen over the years, but in 2020 is 11 pubs.[6][7][8] There are three pubs in Exeter and five in Barnstaple, with one each at Lapford, Portsmouth Arms, and Umberleigh. 10 stamps collected in the Rail Ale Trail leaflet entitle the participant to claim special Tarka Line Rail Trail souvenir tour shirt.

Wessex Trains covered Class 150 2-car DMU number 150241 in coloured pictures promoting the line and named The Tarka Belle. It is still in service with Great Western Railway (Formerly First Great Western) but is no longer in that livery.

The line was designated by the Department for Transport as a community rail line in September 2006. This aims to increase revenue and reduce costs. Among possible options are increasing the car parking at stations, looking at ways to increase the train frequency and facilities at stations.

See also

• Tarka Trail
• West of England Main Line

References

1. Nicholas, John (20 July 1992). The North Devon Line: Exeter to Barnstaple Railway from Inception to the Present Day. O.P.C. Railprint. ISBN 978-0860934615.
2. "Exeter to Barnstaple" (PDF). Great Western Railway. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
3. http://great-devon-railway.uk/exeter%20%26%20crediton%20railway/index.html
4. Gordon D. Webster (15 November 2016). Signal Boxes and Semaphores: The Decline. Amberley Publishing. p. 88. ISBN 978-1-4456-5618-2.
5. "Station Usage". Rail Statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
6. Falconer, Kieran (6 September 2009). "All abroad the real ale train". Express. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
7. Hancock, Nick (16 September 2009). "Rail ale drinkers are back on right track". Express and Echo. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
8. "Tarka Line Rail Ale Trail". Great Scenic Railways. Retrieved 18 July 2016.

• Nicholas, John (1992). The North Devon Line. Sparkford: Oxford Publishing Company. ISBN 0-86093-461-6.
• Department for Transport, Rail Group (2006), Route prospectus for the ... Tarka Line'

External links

• Tarka Rail Association