Petrockstow railway station was a station serving the village of

Petrockstowe Petrockstowe (or Petrockstow) is a small village and civil parish in the district of Torridge in Northern Devon, England. Its population in 2001 was 379, hardly different from the figure of 385 recorded in 1901. The southern boundary of the pa ...

West Devon West Devon is a local government district and borough in Devon, England. Towns and villages in the district include Chagford, Okehampton, Princetown and Tavistock, where the council is based. The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the ...

, which is about one mile away. The station was, throughout its passenger-carrying life from 1925 to 1965, spelt without the final "e" of the village name. The railway was originally built as a narrow-gauge freight line to carry

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 ...

to Torrington from the Marland and Meeth clay pits. The Torrington and Marland Railway then became the basis of the northern section of the

North Devon and Cornwall Junction Light Railway The North Devon and Cornwall Junction Light Railway was a railway built to serve numerous ball clay pits that lay in the space between the London and South Western Railway's Torrington branch, an extension of the North Devon Railway group, an ...

, which opened in 1925 and remained a private line until finally becoming part of the

Southern Region of British Railways The Southern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948 until 1992 when railways were re-privatised. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s. The region covered south London, southern England and the south ...

in 1948. A victim of Beeching, the line closed to passengers in 1965 but it remained open for freight trains from the Meeth quarries which passed into the rail network through Barnstaple and Torrington until 1982.Freight details
/ref> In 2014 a small group of local railway enthusiast began clearance work at the Station, clearing the platforms and vegetation. It is hoped to partly restore the Station, in conjunction with the owners, Devon County Council.

References

External links

The Colonel Stephens Society
Disused railway stations in Devon Former Southern Railway (UK) stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1925 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1965 Beeching closures in England 1925 establishments in England 1965 disestablishments in England Torridge District {{SouthWestEngland-railstation-stub