The Bideford Railway Heritage Centre CIC (previously the Bideford and Instow Railway Group) in Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, is responsible for the management of the Bideford station site.
The Company is also responsible for Instow

Instow

Instow is a village in north Devon, England. It is on the estuary where the rivers Taw and Torridge meet, between the villages of Westleigh and Yelland and on the opposite bank of Appledore....

 signal box

Signal box

On a rail transport system, signalling control is the process by which control is exercised over train movements by way of railway signals and block systems to ensure that trains operate safely, over the correct route and to the proper timetable...

 which opens on occasional Sundays and bank holiday

Bank Holiday

A bank holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom or a colloquialism for public holiday in Ireland. There is no automatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the population is granted time off work or extra pay for working on these days, depending on their contract...

s from Easter to October.

A railway museum exists in the rebuilt Bideford signal box and also in the green PMV railway van. Short passenger rides were given at Bideford until 2006 when vandalism temporarily prevented services operating. The site was mothballed in 2008 when housing development threatened to encroach on the trackbed. This threat has now been removed and the company is working on renovating the site and rolling stock, so that services can recommence. The site is accessible from the Tarka Trail

Tarka Trail

The Tarka Trail is a series of footpaths and cyclepaths around north Devon, England that follow the route taken by Tarka the Otter in the book of that name. It is a figure-of-eight route, based on Barnstaple, and covers some of path....

 and the museum is open when staffing allows.

Former British Railways rolling stock owned by the railway includes a PMV van and a BR standard brake van

Brake van

Brake van and guard's van are terms used mainly in the UK, Australia and India for a railway vehicle equipped with a hand brake which can be applied by the guard...

. A Hibberd Planet

F. C. Hibberd & Co Ltd

F. C. Hibberd & Co Ltd was a British locomotive-building company founded in 1927 to build industrial petrol and diesel locomotives. In 1932 the company acquired the goodwill of James and Frederick Howard Ltd...

 diesel locomotive

Diesel locomotive

A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...

 is also present. Mark1 coach S4489, owned by Devon County Council, is at the station acting as the Tarka Tearooms for users of the Tarka Trail.

History

The line was opened from Barnstaple

Barnstaple

Barnstaple is a town and civil parish in the local government district of North Devon in the county of Devon, England, UK. It lies west southwest of Bristol, north of Plymouth and northwest of the county town of Exeter. The old spelling Barnstable is now obsolete.It is the main town of the...

 to Fremington

Fremington, Devon

Fremington is a village and civil parish in North Devon three miles west of Barnstaple. It was formerly a borough that sent members to Parliament in the reign of Edward III. The parish includes the neighbouring villages of Bickington and Yelland, the latter only asserting its identity as separate...

 in 1848. Passenger trains ran throughout from Barnstaple railway station

Barnstaple railway station

Barnstaple railway station is the terminus of a long branch line, known as the Tarka Line, north west of Exeter St Davids, in Devon.It was known as Barnstaple Junction from 1874 to 1970 as it was the junction between lines to , , and Exeter-History:...

 to Bideford

Bideford

Bideford is a small port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, south-west England. It is also the main town of the Torridge local government district.-History:...

 from 2 November 1855 as the Bideford Extension Railway. The line was further extended to Torrington

Great Torrington

Great Torrington is a small market town in the north of Devon, England. Parts of it are sited on high ground with steep drops down to the River Torridge below...

 in 1872 when the current Bideford railway station

Bideford railway station

The first Bideford railway station was opened on 2 November 1855 as the terminus of the Bideford Extension Railway from Barnstaple. This was taken over by the London and South Western Railway about ten years later....

 was opened.

Passenger services ceased on 2 October 1965 although ball clay

Ball clay

Ball clays are kaolinitic sedimentary clays, that commonly consist of 20-80% kaolinite, 10-25% mica, 6-65% quartz. Localized seams in the same deposit have variations in composition, including the quantity of the major minerals, accessory minerals and carbonaceous materials such as lignite...

 traffic continued until 1982. The track was removed in 1985 after some interest by BR in reintroducing a passenger service to Bideford.

See also

• Other local railway attractions:
  • Lynton and Barnstaple Railway
    Lynton and Barnstaple Railway
    The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway opened as an independent railway in May 1898. It was a single track narrow gauge railway slightly over long running through the rugged and picturesque area bordering Exmoor in North Devon, England. Although opened after the 1896 Light Railways Act came into force,...
    
    
  • Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway
    Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway
    The Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway is a water-powered funicular railway joining the twin towns of Lynton and Lynmouth on the rugged coast of North Devon.-Origins:...
    
    
  • Dartmoor Railway
    Dartmoor Railway
    The Dartmoor Railway is a long railway line in Devon, England. From Crediton the line parallels the Tarka Line to the site of the former Coleford Junction. Heading west it then serves Sampford Courtenay, Okehampton and Meldon Quarry. The route is owned from Coleford to Meldon by Aggregate...
    
    

External links

• Bideford Railway Museum – Information from Devon County Council
• Entry at Information Britain