Yeoford railway station is a rural station serving the village of Yeoford in

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. Devo ...

, 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 18 ...

to , from at milepost 183 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 ...

in July 1857. On 1 November 1865 the first section of the Okehampton Railway opened from Yeoford (now known as Yeoford Junction) to , although the new railway ran alongside the existing North Devon line almost to Coleford. This route was to become 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 ...

main line to . To carry this extra traffic the line was doubled from Crediton to Yeoford on 1 June 1876 and onwards to a new Coleford Junction on 16 May 1877. The platform for trains going towards Plymouth and Barnstaple was given an extra track so trains could stand on both sides. There were sidings on both sides of the station but in 1943 additional long sidings were laid at the Crediton end south of the Plymouth platform so that traffic could be exchanged between the two routes. The goods yard was closed on 10 February 1964 and the signal box closed on 18 August 1968. Through trains beyond to Plymouth had been withdrawn in May 1968 and passenger services to Okeheampton ceased in 1972. Coleford Junction was closed on 17 October 1971, since when the two lines at Yeoford have been operated as individual lines from Crediton to Barnstaple and to the quarry at Meldon near Okehampton. The

Dartmoor Railway The Dartmoor line is a railway line in Devon, England. From , the line runs alongside the Tarka Line to the site of the former Coleford Junction where it diverges west to . Previously a heritage line, it is owned by Network Rail. The route ...

had planned to reopen the disused platform at Yeoford in order to create an interchange with the Tarka Line (and thus the national network). Through running from Yeoford to Okehampton was intended to commence in 2009 but this failed to happen. Daily passenger trains have since been restored between Exeter and Okehampton (now known as the Dartmoor line) but they cannot call at Yeoford as the platform on that line is derelict. The Tarka Line trains use what used to be the southbound platform in both directions. The station has been used by many operators, but recently, over the last decade by Wales & West, a regional

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glouc ...

and south

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

train operator, which in 2001 divided into

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 ...

and Wales & Borders. Since then, Yeoford has been served by Wessex Trains and more recently by the Greater Western franchise, owned and operated by

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.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 ...

Description

The station is on the northern edge of the Yeoford. Only the platform on the north side of the line is in use to serve trains to and from . The original buildings have all been demolished but there is a waiting shelter on the platform. The second platform is derelict but a second track runs in front of it for trains to and from which pass without stopping. The former station master's house is in residential use.

Services

All services at Yeoford 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 and all call at Yeoford on request to the conductor or by signalling the driver as it approaches.

Signalling

The

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' ...

at Yeoford was opened on 1 June 1876. It was situated on the west side of the road bridge alongside the line to Coleford Junction. It had a wooden upper storey on top of an unusually tall stone base which was necessary so that the signaller could see over the bridge to the station and goods yard. It was closed on 18 August 1968.

Coleford Junction

When the line towards Okehampton opened in1865 the junction was at Yeoford with the two single tracks running beside each other for as far as Penstone. To create a double-track route in 1877 the Okehampton line became the down line and the Barnstaple line became the up. This required a proper junction at Penstone which was called Coleford Junction. A signal box was opened here on 16 May 1877. It was closed on 17 October 1971 when the physical junction was moved to Crediton.

Neopardy

Trains shunting at Yeoford blocked the busy line from Crediton so an additional signal box was provided at Neopardy to break the section into smaller parts, that allowed a train to be sent forward from Crediton while another train was blocking the line at Yeoford. It is not known when it opened but it was before 1890. It was generally only in use Mondays to Saturdays during the daytime. In later years it was only brought into use on busy days such as summer weekends. It was closed completely on 7 April 1916.

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

{{Devon railway stations Railway stations in Devon Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1857 Former London and South Western Railway stations Railway stations served by Great Western Railway Railway request stops in Great Britain DfT Category F2 stations