Tarka Line

Tarka Line
Crossing the Exe at Cowley Bridge
Overview
Status	Open
Owner	Network Rail
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
Service
Type	Community rail
System	National Rail
Operator(s)	Great Western Railway
Depot(s)	Exeter TMD
Rolling stock	Class 150 or Class 158 DMUs
History
Opened	1851–1854
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
Route map (Click to expand)

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 Dartmoor line to Okehampton Copplestone 13½ Morchard Road 15¾ Lapford 17½ Eggesford Level Crossing Eggesford 21¼ Kings 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

The Tarka Line, also known as the North Devon Line, is a local railway line in Devon, England, linking the city of Exeter with the town of Barnstaple via a number of local villages, operated by Great Western Railway (GWR). The line opened in 1851 from Exeter to Crediton and in 1854 the line was completed through to Barnstaple. The line was taken over by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) in 1865 and later became part of the Southern Railway and then British Rail. In 2001, following privatisation, Wessex Trains introduced the name Tarka Line after the eponymous character in Henry Williamson's book Tarka the Otter. The line was transferred to First Great Western in 2006.

It is one of the railway lines supported by the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership and passenger numbers on the line have more than tripled since 2001.

History

Further information: North Devon Railway and Exeter and Crediton 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 Exeter Quay. Authority was obtained to build this line by an Act of 1831, but construction never started and the powers lapsed. However, business interests in Crediton became interested in a railway again after allies of the Great Western Railway (GWR), the Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER), reached Exeter in 1844, and the GWR-allied 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. 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 to Crediton along the former's tracks.

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. However, these proposals were rejected by the Railway Commission under Lord Dalhousie, the so-called "Five Kings", who wished to defer the decision on linking Barnstaple to the national railway network in order to appraise an alternative proposal by the B&ER to construct a line that would run between Barnstaple and their station at Tiverton.

E&CR constructed and gauge controversy

By January 1846, construction had started on the E&CR and on an unrelated line connecting Barnstaple with Fremington Quay, five miles to the west, and this created a new sense of urgency in connecting Barnstaple to the national network. Two proposals to reach Barnstaple were put forwards: an east-west route from Tiverton to Bideford, via Mid Devon and Barnstaple; and a north-south route from Barnstaple to Crediton (with access to Exeter along the E&CR). The Tiverton option had Isambard Kingdom Brunel as its engineer, was favoured by the GWR, and had backing from the Five Kings and the Lord Lieutenant of Devonshire, Hugh Fortescue, 2nd Earl Fortescue. Meanwhile, the LSWR had long-term ambitions to challenge the GWR's dominance in the south-west, and they backed the rival Crediton option, installing John Locke as its engineer.

The GWR party failed to submit their plans in line with the standing orders, and so Parliament rejected them, authorising the Crediton route despite the recommendations of Dalhousie's commission and the preference of the Lord Lieutenant. This Act of 1846 created the LSWR-allied Taw Vale Extension Railway (TVER). In 1847, the GWR party tried and failed to agree a lease of the TVER's line to the B&ER. In the same year, the LSWR party purchased a majority stake in the E&CR and then leased the E&CR line to the TVER. The E&CR board, led by a J.W. Buller, remained aligned to the B&ER until Buller was removed that year (amid a procedural controversy that resulted in an unsuccessful appeal to the Five Kings). At the same time, construction continued on the E&CR, and by the end of 1847, the line was complete except for a connection to the B&ER. Given the departure of Buller, the E&CR directors conceded that an agreement with the B&ER would be impossible and ordered that the line be converted to the LSWR's narrow gauge and a station be constructed at Cowley Bridge.

As for the TVER, the end of Railway Mania had left it without funding and the Act of 1846 had left the decision on its gauge to the Railway Commission, who in 1848 announced it would be in broad gauge. Four days later, the conversion of the E&CR was complete. Thus, in 1848, construction had not yet started on the Crediton to Barnstaple line, there was no capital available, and it would have to be constructed in a gauge that would make through trains to Exeter impossible. Meanwhile, the Commission also told the LSWR that they would not be permitted to construct a line linking the Cowley Bridge to Exeter, leaving the E&CR completely isolated.

Progress resumes and services begin

The deadlock was broken in 1851 by William Chapman, chairman of the LSWR and the E&CR. He agreed to convert one of the two tracks on the Crediton line to broad gauge and lease the line to B&ER; in exchange, the B&ER agreed to construct a junction allowing trains to run from Crediton to Exeter St Davids, and Cowley Bridge station was never opened. A service commenced of seven trains a day in each direction—the first trains to run on the future Tarka Line—and new railway stations opened to passengers at Newton St Cyres and Crediton. In the same year, new company the North Devon Railway (NDR) was formed to replace the financially failed TVER and construction started on the Crediton–Barnstaple section. The NDR opened in 1854 with stations at Yeoford, Copplestone, Morchard Road, Lapford, Eggesford, South Molton Road, Portsmouth Arms, Umberleigh and Barnstaple, as well as a siding at "Chappletown". However, the track south of Crediton continued to be owned by the E&CR. 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.

Grouping and nationalisation

Following the passage of the Railways Act 1921, the LSWR was merged into the Southern Railway, and twenty years later this became the Southern Region of British Rail. Along with the LSWR line to Plymouth, the route was part of the "Withered Arm" of Southern routes in predominantly Great Western Railway (and subsequently Western Region) territory.

Wessex Trains and First Great Western

On 13 October 1996, the Tarka Line was taken over by Wales & West, controlled by Prism Rail. National Express purchased Wales & West from Prism Rail in July 2000 and on 14 October 2001 rebranded Wales & West as Wessex Trains after the Strategic Rail Authority transferred the company's Welsh services to Wales and Borders.

Sponsored by the North Devon tourist board, Wessex Trains renamed unit 150241 to The Tarka Belle and changed its livery to advertising for tourist destinations on the Tarka Line.

The line was transferred to First Great Western in 2006, who rebranded as GWR in 2015 and introduced the line's current fleet and service pattern in December 2019.

Stations

The Tarka Line runs between Barnstaple and Exeter St Davids. The line leaves Exeter St Davids to the north, and then turns to the west. The railway broadly follows the route of the A377 road, and north of Lapford, the Tarka Line is intertwined with the River Taw.

It runs through Newton St Cyres, Crediton and Yeoford, and then remainder of the line runs north-west through Copplestone, Morchard Road, Lapford, Eggesford, Kings Nympton, Portsmouth Arms,Umberleigh, Chapelton to terminate at Barnstaple.

The majority of stations on the line are request stops. On summer Sundays before the company ceased trading, the Dartmoor Railway ran alongside the south-eastern Tarka Line between Exeter and Yeoford.

Services

Passenger services on the line are operated by Great Western Railway mainly using Class 158 diesel multiple units, having replaced Class 143 units that operated majority of services on the line until December 2019. In September 2020, Class 166 units also began operating on the line on weekends. In 2021, class 166s also started appearing on weekday workings.

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.

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	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
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	3,000	2,684
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	57,670	66,606
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	17,116	17,236
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	17,868	19,438
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	12,378	14,642
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	1,316	2,078
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	29,802	32,228
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	5,000	6,098
Portsmouth Arms	614	372	510	667	1,012	844	676	936	884	694	844	1,510	756	518	444	466	502
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	33,060	32,302
Chapelton	734	472	161	120	208	176	162	190	190	258	232	192	100	566	188	446	192
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	432,196	424,822
The annual passenger usage is based on sales of tickets in stated financial years from Office of Rail and Road estimates of station usage. 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. Usage from the periods 2019-20 and especially 2020-21 onwards have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic

Community rail

The Tarka Belle at Bristol Temple Meads in March 2006.

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. 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.

Working

No-signaller token remote working

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. The full journey from Barnstaple to Exeter takes just over 1 hour, much the same as the journey time in a car.

See also

• Tarka Trail
• West of England Main Line

References

• 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