A Lost Branch Line - Bideford to Meeth
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- Опубликовано: 13 сен 2024
- A look at part of the former branch lines to Torrington. The former London South Western branch from Barnstaple to Torrington was closed to passengers in October 1965. The former Southern branch from Torrington to Halwill Junction was closed to passengers in March 1965,following the Beeching report of 1963,with the section from Meeth to Barnstaple being retained for goods until September 1982. Following track lifting Devon County Council purchased the track bed for use as a footpath/cycleway that became known as the Tarka Trail.
The line ran through some beautiful countryside. Good to see the trail well used today.
I waited for a minute for the commentary to start and in the manner to which I've become accustomed, swore, and carried on viewing videos which RUclips thinks I might like.
It's getting quite hard to recall there was ever a branch line here but I was lucky enough to get myself in a working as far as Meeth in the 1970s, which may well have been one of the last times the remainder of this line saw any rail traffic.When I look at it now I sometimes wonder if I'm living on the same planet!The station in Bideford was known as Bideford Quay, if my fading memory serves me well. Those were the days!Alistair Kewish
I went by train from Biddeford to Barnstaple Junction in the early 1960s there was one of those old LSWR coaches with a gate as entryway. Ok the loco was one of those LMS 4-6-2s and Barnstaple Shed still had all its timbers. Great to see the Torrington part of the line.
Only last weekend my partner, who was born in Bideford, and I stayed at Royal Hotel right by the old railway station.We really enjoyed walking along the path behind the hotel in opposite direction over 2 mornings. There were some really lovely views along the way, especially when the sun was out.
The hotel had a door directly onto the platform as I remember.
A local resident told us the track was ripped up with indecent haste. There was no time for any heritage groups to see if it was possible to take it over. They couldn’t believe how quickly the track was gone. The countryside is stunning. Tourists and rail enthusiasts would flock there today.
And at least the bridges and tunnels and old goods shed is also still here
People or tourist would give their right arm to travel on these lines today...solittle foresight back in the Beeching days....I hated him then and I loath him today and his cohort Marples...so sad to see this.Thanks for posting.
Marples was the main man he appointed Beeching who knew nothing about railways,whereas the man he replaced at double the salary ( General Sir Brian Robertson) did. Marples is worth investigating too. A Tory Fixer who started his scams in the Labour party. In the 1970s he fled the Uk overnight,after it was discovered he owed thirty years worth of back tax,was a slum landlord, and probably had been on the fringes of the Profumo Affair. He fled to Luxembourg,subsequently ending up in France where he Owned a Chateux,no doubt also payed for by the British Taxpayer. Meantime over the next twenty five years,railways closed in the UK to be replaced by roads for which Marples company had many of the contracts.
they should turn it back into a railway
@ because it was beautiful
At least the platforms are still here but sadly no track at all
Nice view of that bridge .
That’s so sad the platform canopies have gone from Biddeford, and the harbour sidings have disappeared. Still footpaths can be railways again
With the fuel prices now they ALL need to be railways again quick
@@muckle8 Hemel Hempstead Midland line the Nikky was running for freight from Hemelite Breeze block factory until 1985. Now a footpath
@likklej8 does it have many bridges or viaducts etc and could it be a working line again? Did it serve any towns?
Ahh loved cycling this track.
If ever there was a former trackbed crying out to be reinstated for what it was intended for, it's THIS one !
Yes. Nothing seems to have been built on the trackbed. What a wonderful journey it would be!
The tunnel when u go thru it a light goes out.
Moves are afoot to reconnect to Barnstaple and Storrington. Will take time. Beeching a responsible factor in global warming and the downturn in local economies. A bigger mess than anything currently chatted about.
that level thing should go into bide museum.