Kings Nympton railway station, also spelt King's Nympton, is a halt on the

Tarka Line 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 ...

in North Devon, serving the civil parishes of

Chulmleigh Chulmleigh ( ) is a small Saxon hilltop market town and civil parish located in North Devon in the heart of the English county of Devon. It is located north west of Exeter, just north of the Mid Devon boundary, linked by the A377 and B ...

, Burrington and

King's Nympton King's Nympton (Latinised to ''Nymet Regis'') is a village, parish and former manor in North Devon, England in the heart of the rolling countryside between Exmoor and Dartmoor, some 4½ miles () S.S.W. of South Molton and N. of Chulmleigh. The ...

. The station is located at Fortescue Cross, a road junction on the A377, around 2½ miles (4 km) from its namesake village. It is from at milepost 197.75 from . The station and all trains are operated by Great Western Railway (GWR).

History

Nineteenth century

The station was opened as South Molton Road on 11 August 1854, one of the five stations on the new

North Devon Railway The North Devon Railway was a railway company which operated a line from Cowley Bridge Junction, near Exeter, to Bideford in Devon, England, later becoming part of the London and South Western Railway's system. Originally planned as a broad ga ...

(NDR) line between and (from whence NDR trains continued on the

Exeter and Crediton Railway The Exeter and Crediton Railway was a broad gauge railway that linked Exeter and Crediton, Devon, England. It was 5¼ miles (8½ km) long. Although built in 1847, it was not opened until 12 May 1851 due to disagreement about the gau ...

to ). The station's 'road' name showed that it was situated at a distance down the road from the town of

South Molton South Molton is a town in Devon, England. It is part of the North Devon local government district. The town is on the River Mole. According to the 2001 census the civil parish of South Molton had a population of 4,093, increasing to 5,108 at the ...

, which is around ) away. The NDR initially had a service of four trains a day in each direction from Monday to Saturday and two trains a day on Sundays. From 2 November 1855 they were extended beyond Barnstaple to The

London and South Western Railway The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exeter ...

(LSWR) took over the line and from 2 March 1863 could offer through services to their more central station in Exeter ( Exeter Queen Street) and

London Waterloo station Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station of t ...

. By 1906 they were operating 10 trains on weekdays but only one down and three up trains called on Sundays. The LSWR opened a 16-lever signal box on 1 October 1873 to control the passing loop and the station's three sidings. The passing loop was short, only long enough for a 15-wagon goods train, but longer trains could reverse into sidings at either end of the station when necessary. The goods yard was on the north side of the line at the Exeter end of the station. It had a short siding serving cattle pens that were busy during the monthly a livestock auctions that were held adjacent to the station. The other siding was much longer and served a

goods shed A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train. A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built ...

and coal merchant.

Twentieth century

The Railways Act 1921 merged the LSWR with other railways to create the new Southern Railway. In 1938 South Molton Road was served by eight trains a day in each direction. The Southern Railway was nationalised in 1948 and South Molton Road became 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 ...

. British Rail renamed the station from 'South Molton Road' to 'Kings Nympton' on 1 March 1951 to avoid confusion with

South Molton railway station The Devon and Somerset Railway (D&SR) was a cross-country line that connected Barnstaple in Devon, England, to the network of the Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) near Taunton. It was opened in stages between 1871 and 1873 and closed in 1966. ...

on the Barnstaple–Taunton line and to better reflect its location. The

British Railways Board British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

(BRB) transferred the Southern Region lines west of Exeter to the Western Region in 1950, the Western Region being responsible for the stations while the Southern Region continued to operate the trains. The BRB transferred the lines back to the Southern Region in 1958. The BRB's 1963 '' The Reshaping of British Railways'' report included Kings Nympton on the list of stations proposed to be closed, along with the whole of the line. In 1963 the line was transferred back to the Western Region along with all the Southern region lines west of , both the stations and the trains. In 1965 there were 9 down and 10 up trains calling at Kings Nympton on weekdays but the Western Region downgraded lines and cut services along the former Southern lines. The goods yard at Kings Nympton was closed to public traffic on 4 December 1967 although a siding was retained until 1981. The signal box closed on 26 July 1970 and since then all trains then have used the former up platform. By 1980 there were just 4 down trains each day and 5 weekday and 3 Sunday up services.

Tarka Line and privatisation

British Rail introduced modern lightweight 'Skipper' trains in May 1986 but they did not prove successful so older, more conventional trains returned. In 1990 the line was promoted as the '

'. British Rail was privatised in 1996. The infrastructure was transferred to

Railtrack Railtrack was a group of companies that owned the track, signalling, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and all but a handful of the stations of the British railway system from 1994 until 2002. It was created as part of the privatisation of ...

, which later became

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

, but the station was operated by whichever Train Operating Company held the franchise.

Wales & West Wales & West was a train operating company in the United Kingdom that operated the South Wales & West franchise from 1996 until 2001. The franchise was operated by Prism Rail from October 1996 until July 2000, when the firm was taken over by N ...

won the initial franchise that included the Barnstaple branch. Wales & West franchise was reorganised as

Wessex Trains Wessex Trains was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by National Express that operated the Wessex Trains franchise from October 2001 until March 2006, when the franchise was merged with the Great Western and Thames Valley f ...

in 2001. The franchise was merged into First Great Western in 2006 which rebranded itself as the Great Western Railway in 2015. In February 2012, the North Devon Public Transport Users' Group proposed that Kings Nympton—along with every other Tarka Line station except for Barnstaple, Crediton and Exeter St Davids—be closed, to improve journey times between Exeter and Barnstaple. The suggestion was opposed by the Tarka Rail Association, who said that the group 'cannot ignore the importance of those communities' served by Tarka Line halts like Kings Nympton, and

took no action on the basis of it. In September 2013, the Tarka Rail Association published their ''Strategy for the Exeter–Barnstaple Line'', laying out their aspirations for improvements to the Tarka Line. These included work to prevent flooding at Kings Nympton, and a recommendation that the track be moved back and the platform widened. Kings Nympton railway station in 2019

FGW rebranded as GWR in 2015. The temporary signage at the station—timetable posters, etc.—were updated to reflect the new branding, but as of 2020, the permanent signage continues to use the FGW logo BR-style design. GWR also painted new yellow lines on the platform and installed a customer help point. The station was closed for two weeks between 26 October and 8 November 2019 whilst works were carried out elsewhere on the Tarka Line, in preparation for the extensive December 2019 timetable changes. These changes arrived on 31 December. The Class 143s and 153s were withdrawn and replaced with Class 158 ''Express Sprinters''; at the request of the Tarka Rail Association, an additional northbound train from Kings Nympton was provided on Fridays; and direct services to Exmouth were withdrawn, with all southbound trains now terminating at St James Park. It was closed again between 30 March and 4 April 2020 so that Network Rail could lay new ballast and improve track drainage in the general area of the station, implementing the suggestions made in the Tarka Rail Association's 2013 report.

Accidents and incidents

In October 2012, a driver crashed into an embankment close to Kings Nympton, causing a train to have to stop. The driver was critically injured and was airlifted out by the

Devon Air Ambulance The Devon Air Ambulance Trust (DAAT) is a charity providing emergency medical services through the provision of two helicopter-based air ambulances and two critical care cars, which cover the county of Devon in South West England. The helico ...

; three other casualties were treated at the scene. Trains were initially suspended and were subsequently only allowed to pass Kings Nympton at 5 mph. In September 2020, northbound trains were suspended through Kings Nympton, terminating one stop to the south at , after a person was spotted "in the water"—presumably the

River Taw The River Taw () rises at Taw Head, a spring on the central northern flanks of Dartmoor, crosses North Devon and at the town of Barnstaple, formerly a significant port, empties into Bideford Bay in the Bristol Channel, having formed a large ...

, which runs close to the station.

Station masters

The station master in 1879 was Thomas Lock. The station master in 1910 was S, Chalkey

Description

Kings Nympton is located in the civil parish of

at Fortescue Cross, a small cluster of houses and the junction between the A377 and the B3226 roads. The station is more than a mile away from any named settlement; the closest hamlets being Head Bridge and Colleton Mills, around to the north and south respectively along the A377. Kings Nympton has a single platform on the east side of the line. It is long enough for a four-coach train. with step-free access to the platform. There is car parking, bike rack and waiting shelter. At the south end of the platform is the former station master's house which is now a private home. The old northbound platform is derelict.

Passenger volume

Kings Nympton is a fairly quiet station; in 2018–19, it was ranked 2,405th in the UK for entries and exits out of 2,566 stations, making it the 162nd least-used station. Of the thirteen Tarka Line stations, it is the fifth-least used, busier than , , and . Passenger numbers declined from around 7,000 entries and exits per annum in the late 1990s to a low of around 1,000 in 2006–07 and 2007–08, before rising again to a new high-water mark of around 8,000 in 2016–17 and subsequently entering a slower decline through the late 2010s, falling to around 5,000 entries and exits in 2018–19. The Department for Transport considers Kings Nympton a "small unstaffed" station as it has fewer than 100,000 journeys per annum, category F2.

Services

GWR Class 158 at Kings Nympton on 25 January 2020

All services at Kings Nympton are operated by Great Western Railway. Only a limited number of trains (four each way on Sundays but more on other days) between and call at Kings Nympton and this is only on request to the conductor or by signalling the driver as it approaches. The 'Railway Station' bus stop is at Fortescue Cross, around two minutes' walk from the platform. It is served by the 325 bus from Lapford to Barnstaple and the 663 bus from Chulmleigh to South Molton. One bus in each direction is provided each day.

Variations on the name

During the 1870s South Molton Road was sometimes referred to as 'Southmolton Road'. While the current name is usually given as 'Kings Nympton' it is often given an apostrophe, 'King's Nympton', the same as the village from which it takes its name. The

Rail Delivery Group The Rail Delivery Group (RDG), previously the Association of Train Operating Companies, is the British rail industry membership body that brings together passenger and freight rail companies, Network Rail and High Speed 2. History From 24 Oc ...

(RDG) spells the name without an apostrophe, and so this spelling is used in journey planners and station databases which use RDG data, including those of

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the ...

, the train operating companies (TOCs), and Trainline. The TOC that operates the station, GWR, uses the non-apostrophe variant, including on station signage and in timetables.

Google Maps Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panoramic views of streets ( Street View), real-time traffic conditions, and rou ...

also omits the apostrophe. On the other hand, the 1963

report ''The Reshaping of British Railways''—the

Beeching report Beeching is an English surname. Either a derivative of the old English ''bece'', ''bæce'' "stream", hence "dweller by the stream" or of the old English ''bece'' "beech-tree" hence "dweller by the beech tree".''Oxford Dictionary of English Surnames' ...

—uses the spelling ''King's Nympton'' in the list of stations to be closed.

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...

currently uses the apostrophe, as does ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. BBC News use both spellings inconsistently, as do the Tarka Rail Association.

Cultural references

In 1983, American author Paul Theroux described the station name ''Kings Nympton''—along with those of Eggesford and —as a "

Bertie Wooster Bertram Wilberforce Wooster is a fictional character in the comedic Jeeves stories created by British author P. G. Wodehouse. An amiable English gentleman and one of the "idle rich", Bertie appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose intelligenc ...

touch" that contributed to the Tarka Line's "comic feel". More broadly, he described the branch line as a whole as "motionless and silent", characterised by "long low hills and withered villages", and stated that the interest of railway enthusiasts therein was "worse than indecent and their joy-riding a mild form of necrophilia." After complimenting other Tarka Line stations, ''Britain from the Rails: A Window Gazer's Guide'' says "whereas Kings Nympton is, frankly, in the middle of nowhere." It also refers to its name as "the ultimate cheek in station misnaming", and notes that "South Molton Road" was even more misleading, characterising it as "a hopeless attempt to trick people heading for that village, nine miles away on a rival line!"