Okehampton-Tavistock. Discussion on reopening and potential use as a diversionary route

[whole diary]

[Andy]

Extending services across Exeter from St Davids via central to St James' Park should increase revenue a bit, one would think.
   
Does anyone know if there are plans to re-open Bow and North Tawton?

[The SprinterMeister]

Extending services across Exeter from St Davids via central to St James' Park should increase revenue a bit, one would think.
   
Does anyone know if there are plans to re-open Bow and North Tawton?

ITV Westcountry local news currently have their news article as the main video on the front page of their site.

http://www.itv.com/westcountry-west/

Bow & North Tawton stations are both in private hands so I would think that the chances are re-opening them are slight, bearing in mind they are both some distance from the respective villages. The track was raised at North Tawton to above platform height many years ago to allow greater headroom under the A3124  road bridge. Yeoford appears to have been left of the list of station stops as well.

[smokey]

I expect Yeoford will come on line on a Okie-Exeter service but as platforms and bridges need rebuilding, better to get up and running first.

[woody]

ITV Westcountry local news currently have their news article as the main video on the front page of their site.

http://www.itv.com/westcountry-west/

According to that Westcountry news link they are looking elsewhere in the Westcountry to expand and have already expressed an interest at improving rail links between Exeter and Plymouth.That could be interesting.



Edit note: Chris to amend quote marks.

[vacman]

Ivybridge has suffered from this problem.Like Okehampton the station is remote from most of the town which has easy access to the A38 and Plymouth its main market.A huge station car park with only a hand full of cars most times.Thus for Okehampton to compete with a main dual-carraigeway trunk route in these circumstances wont be easy.The Tavistock re-opening in 2014 has a far greater chance of success simply because the road alternative to Plymouth is poor and chronically congested in comparison.

Well noises were made by RDS at the time. when plans were published that the Station at Ivybridge was on the wrong side of Ivybridge for a Plymouth Park and Ride service. would have more success as a Park and Ride for Exeter Services except ther's NO trains at the right times

Ivybridge is quite a busy little station!


Edit note: Chris, to amend quote marks.

[Zoe]

The Okehampton to Exeter Railway Line - last used by passenger services in 1972 - could be re-opened again.

They don't seem to know about summer Sundays.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Hmm.

I'm always very reluctant to amend anyone's posts - but in this particular case, because the 'quote' markers had got scrambled, it was becoming increasingly unclear just who was quoting who.

I've amended some of the previous posts here, purely to correct these 'quote' markers.  I've noted those particular posts accordingly, and I hope this does not upset anyone.

However, if I may please remind everyone: to avoid the possibility of such confusion, it really is 'best practice' if we can avoid 'reply with quote' and just use 'reply', whenever possible.

Thanks!

Chris. 

[The SprinterMeister]

According to that Westcountry news link they are looking elsewhere in the Westcountry to expand and have already expressed an interest at improving rail links between Exeter and Plymouth.That could be interesting.

I'm not entirely sure what they mean by that in all honesty. The service between Exeter & Plymouth is reasonably ok with FGW^▸ (First Great Western) & AXC^» (Arriva Cross Country - about) services running between the two points with reasonable ticket interavailability. Now whether they mean re-instating the missing section between Bere Alston & Meldon Quarry I don't know.

I expect Yeoford has been left off the list due to revenue abstraction issues from the existing Barnstaple branch line services. And of course there doesn't seem to have been any real effort made into reinstating the disused platform as of yet. Just guessing on my part of course.

[Andy]

Thanks for the info on Bow & North Tawton, Sprintermeister; the LSWR^▸ (London South Western Railway) were not particularly hot at situating stations close to towns & villages on North Devon and North Cornwall lines, were they? That area is quite sparsely populated so a parkway-type set-up would probably not have much appeal.
 
It's hard to see where else they could operate in Devon & Cornwall, especially Cornwall. Maybe extending east from Exeter to Axminster?

[RailCornwall]

There could be an opportunity to run OA services from Newquay to Plymouth. It'd be interesting to see path availability between Plymouth and PZ as many would appreciate a 'proper train' service rather than the short DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) offerings on the non IC^▸ (Inter City) services that currently run. A long term deal incorporating the Bodmin and Wenford could be interesting. Bodmin would make an ideal stock stabling facility too.

[Andy]

Maybe we are drifting off the topic if we talk about open access possibilities in Cwll in this thread but to reply to railCornwall, thoughts about a Bodmin General-Plymouth stopper and, even further into the realms of fantasy, a Fowey-Plymouth one crossed my mind. I agree that Newquay is probably the most realistic option, though a second platform at NQY^▸ (Newquay (Station)) would seem to be a pre-requisite for this.
 

[FlyingDutchman]

It would be interesting if they go to Axeminster and it should mean for trains for pinhoe and James Park

[Chris from Nailsea]

Maybe we are drifting off the topic if we talk about open access possibilities in Cwll in this thread ...

Thanks, Andy!  If you'd like me to split these posts off into a new topic, in 'Plymouth and Cornwall', please just shout! 

[smokey]

Ivybridge has suffered from this problem.Like Okehampton the station is remote from most of the town which has easy access to the A38 and Plymouth its main market.A huge station car park with only a hand full of cars most times.Thus for Okehampton to compete with a main dual-carraigeway trunk route in these circumstances wont be easy.The Tavistock re-opening in 2014 has a far greater chance of success simply because the road alternative to Plymouth is poor and chronically congested in comparison.

Well noises were made by RDS at the time. when plans were published that the Station at Ivybridge was on the wrong side of Ivybridge for a Plymouth Park and Ride service. would have more success as a Park and Ride for Exeter Services except ther's NO trains at the right times

Ivybridge is quite a busy little station!


Ivybridge station would be a lot busy IF the station was west of the town.
What's the point in driving East to catch a train west.
The Station was built for Plymouth park & Ride.


Edit note: Chris, to amend quote marks.

[vacman]

There could be an opportunity to run OA services from Newquay to Plymouth. It'd be interesting to see path availability between Plymouth and PZ as many would appreciate a 'proper train' service rather than the short DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) offerings on the non IC^▸ (Inter City) services that currently run. A long term deal incorporating the Bodmin and Wenford could be interesting. Bodmin would make an ideal stock stabling facility too.

And where are the spare paths between Par and Newquay?