The Tarka Line

Establishment:
The Exeter-Barnstaple railway line was opened in 1854. In1989 the Countryside Commission, together with Devon County Council and British Rail, commissioned consultants (Transport for Leisure) to report on a number of related development and marketing issues regarding the recreational use of the Exeter-Barnstaple Railway, on behalf of the line's Promotion & Rural Development Working Group.
The main recommendation of the report was that the title of 'Tarka Line' be chosen to give it an identity and aid its promotion in the recreation, leisure and tourism market. The title was officially adopted in October 1989 and the line between Eggesford and Barnstaple now forms part of the Tarka Trail. train.jpg (8888 bytes)

Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership:
Established as a national pilot project in 1991, the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership is responsible for the development and promotion of the six rural branch lines in the south west for leisure and recreation. Core sponsors of the Rail partnership include Devon County Council, Dartmoor National Park, Wales and West Railways, Cornwall County Council, Plymouth City Council, Rural Development Commission and the University of Plymouth. The Tarka Project has been represented on the Tarka Line Working Party group throughout.

tarkaline.jpg (13451 bytes) Development:
The key emphasis has been on developing the line as a method of accessing Tarka Country from the main rail network and as a way of exploring the inland heart of the area. The majority of journeys on the line are along its whole length between Exeter and Barnstaple. The intermediate stations have been under constant threat of closure.
One of the key problems in developing the line for tourism is that the stations are located at some distance (typically 1-3 miles) from the villages in the surrounding countryside. The settlements are very old and situated on the surrounding hills above the wet valley floor where the railway was subsequently built centuries later.
Walks developed from the stations, therefore, tend to be longer distance. The exception is at Eggesford where the Forestry Commission made their first plantings in 1919, and there is still extensive forests. By a quirk of history, all trains stop at Eggesford, whereas many of the otber intermediate stations have occasional stoppping trains.