Crediton railway station

Crediton railway station is a railway station serving the town of Crediton in Devon, England.

Crediton
Location
Place	Crediton
Local authority	Mid Devon
Coordinates	50.78318°N 3.64707°W / 50.78318; -3.64707
Grid reference	SX840994
Operations
Station code	CDI
Managed by	Great Western Railway
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	52,492
2015/16	55,112
2016/17	58,390
2017/18	56,006
2018/19	57,670
History
Original company	Exeter and Crediton Railway
Pre-grouping	London and South Western Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
Opened	1851
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Crediton from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

It is the current junction of the Tarka and Dartmoor lines, though the two lines run parallel until Coleford Junction (where the junction of the Barnstaple and Okehampton lines used to be) at Penstone near Coleford (west of Yeoford).

History

A train driver collects the single-line token at the signal box in 2016

Pre 1892 view of mixed gauge track

The station, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, was opened by the Exeter and Crediton Railway on 12 May 1851. The line to Barnstaple was then opened by the North Devon Railway on 1 August 1854. After 1 November 1865 additional London and South Western Railway trains ran through the station going towards Okehampton.[1] The signal box which controls the level crossing was put into use on 2 June 1875, and the footbridge built in 1878. It now controls the entire Tarka Line from just north of the Cowley Bridge Junction with the Bristol to Exeter line, all the way to Barnstaple, although most of the line uses the No Signalman Token Remote (NSTR) system. Under this method of operation only a single train is allowed into each section, so not much signal control is actually required.[1]

The creamery and dairy in Crediton is located next to the church, but the company's transport depot was located in Hoskin's Yard next to the station.[2] Every day, a train of three or more Milk Tank Wagons would be filled from lorries, and then taken to London by either the GWR or the SR. Express Dairies sold the creamery and a similar unit in Kirkcudbright, Scotland in July 2002 to Milk Link, which by that time produced UHT milk.

The goods yard closed on 4 December 1967.[1]

Services

Crediton is served by all trains between Barnstaple and Exeter St Davids, most of which continue to Exmouth. In the summer of 2016 that was between 14 and 16 weekdays and 7 each way on Sundays. Until 8th September 2019 on summer Sundays there was an additional service from Exeter to Okehampton over the Dartmoor Railway provided with Devon County Council funding as part of the Dartmoor Sunday Rover network.[3]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Newton St Cyres		Great Western Railway Tarka Line		Yeoford
Exeter St Davids		Great Western Railway Dartmoor Line Summer Sundays only		Sampford Courtenay

Community railway

Plaque to railway engineer Joseph Locke on the platform of Crediton station

The railway between Exeter and Barnstaple is designated as a community railway and is supported by marketing provided by the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership. The line is promoted under the Tarka Line name.

The main station building is the award-winning Tea Rooms. These appeared in a list of "highly commended" station cafes published in The Guardian in 2009.[4] The tea rooms house a 0 gauge static model of the station in LSWR days and displays about the railway locally.

The Friends of Crediton Station actively promote the station and have been involved in schemes such as planting flower beds.

In 2007, working with the Friends of Crediton Station, First Great Western (now Great Western Railway) painted the station in authentic LSWR colours.

References

1. Nicholas, John (1992). The North Devon Line. Sparkford: Oxford Publishing Company. ISBN 0-86093-461-6.
2. Wills, Jimmy. "History of the Milk Marketing Board Crediton Depot covering the years 1965-2000". Devon Transport History. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
3. "Guide to train times: Exeter to Barnstaple (Tarka Line)" (PDF). Great Western Railway. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
4. Wills, Dixe (12 May 2009). "Ten of the best railway cafes". Guardian. Retrieved 30 June 2009.

External links

• Video footage of Crediton Station 10 2016