Umberleigh railway station serves the village of

Umberleigh Umberleigh is a former large manor within the historic hundred of (North) Tawton, but today a small village in North Devon in England. It used to be an ecclesiastical parish, but following the building of the church at Atherington it becam ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, England. It is 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 ...

to , from at milepost 205.75 from .

History

The station was opened by the

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 gaug ...

on 1 August 1854. The railway was single track. Although there was a passing loop at Umberleigh there was only a platform on the western track during the first few years. The main goods yard and cattle pens were on this side of the line at the south end of the station. 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 ...

with a 2 ton crane was situated on a short siding at the other end of the platform. There was another short siding beyond the road bridge which also had a crane which could lift 5 tons. A

signal box In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

was opened on 1 October 1873 but this was replaced on 19 October 1890 when the line towards Barnstaple was given a second track. The goods yard closed on 4 January 1965. The line was singled and the signal box closed on 21 May 1971. A

camping coach Camping coaches were holiday accommodation offered by many railway companies in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland from the 1930s. The coaches were old passenger vehicles no longer suitable for use in trains, which were converted to ...

was available for hire in the main goods yard from 1935 to 1939 and again from 1962 to 1964.

Description

Umberleigh station is situated next to a bridge that carries the B3277 road from

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 ...

near its junction with the A377 Exeter to Barnstaple road. There is a small car park. The single platform, which is long enough for a 7 coach train, is on the west side of the track. There is a waiting shelter for passengers but the former station master's house is in private use. The disused platform on the opposite side of the track can still be seen.

Services

All services at Umberleigh are operated by

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

. There is generally one train per hour in each direction between and but a very small number of services continue to or from other routes in East Devon on weekdays. All call at Umberleigh but only on request to the conductor or by signalling the driver as it approaches.

Community railway

The railway between Exeter and Barnstaple is designated as a

community railway Community rail in Britain is the support of railway lines and stations by local organisations, usually through community rail partnerships (CRPs) comprising railway operators, local councils, and other community organisations, and rail user group ...

and is supported by marketing provided by the

Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership The Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership is the largest Community Rail Partnership in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1991 to promote the use of, and improvements to, rural railways in Devon and Cornwall, and also to promote the places serv ...

. The line is promoted as the

References

External links

Video footage of Umberleigh station
{{Devon railway stations Railway stations in Devon Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1854 Former London and South Western Railway stations Railway stations served by Great Western Railway Railway request stops in Great Britain DfT Category F2 stations