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Exmoor
DEVON AND SOMERSET RAILWAY: FROM THE GOLDEN YEARS TO
CLOSURE
By 1900 the railway was an integral part of daily life opening up a hitherto remote part of
England to tourists and enabling residents to travel in a way not previously possible.
Expansion
In 1915 there were up to 5 passenger and 5 freight trains each way on weekdays and an
additional 5 passenger services and 1 goods train each way on the Exe Valley line. Revenues
at Dulverton were nearly £12,000.1 However during the 1920s and early 1930s road traffic
slowly increased and by the 1930s fewer rail passengers were carried although freight
remained important. Petrol bulk storage tanks were planned for Dulverton station in 1931.2
Dulverton sawmills at Exebridge supplied sleepers for the railway. A new station, Yeo Mill
halt in West Anstey was opened in 1932. Major work was carried out on the Carnarvon Arms
Hotel.
Early competition from road transport
In 1933 only 13,800 passenger tickets were sold at Dulverton; East Anstey and Bishop’s
Nympton and Molland, including Yeo Mill, saw similar falls to 4,909 and 4,875. Cattle trucks
reduced in number with 275 leaving Dulverton and 160 from Bishop’s Nympton and
Molland, however there had been an increase to 194 at East Anstey. There were smaller falls
in freight carried and the amount of parcel traffic and coal arriving was little changed at
Dulverton although both had declined elsewhere on the line and the coalyard at East Anstey
appears to have closed. The total tonnage of inward freight at Dulverton was 7,990 and at East
Anstey and Bishop’s Nympton and Molland 1,544 and 2,371 respectively. Outward freight
1
2
M. Smith, An Illustrated History of Exmoor’s Railways, 31—6.
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from Dulverton was 1,349 tons.3 The number of staff employed at Dulverton fell to 12 and
income fell from over £19,000 in 1925 to £12,600. Revenues and staff at East Anstey also
declined although at Bishop’s Nympton and Molland and at South Molton income had risen.4
The closing years
The railway still carried many through passengers, as the train was the usual transport for
seaside holidays. There were many through trains between Ilfracombe and London, Preston,
Cardiff and Birmingham after the Second World War. Perhaps the most unusual passengers
were the six circus elephants, which travelled to Barnstaple in 1951! In 1954 a farmer from
Westmoreland moved all his equipment and livestock including pedigree Friesians to Molland
by train. In the big freeze in the early 1960s a helicopter ferried goods from the station to
outlying farms. However, train travel was in decline as motorbuses, cars, and lorries became
more common and convenient especially as most stations on the line were a long way from
the populations they served. This fact probably explains why the railway did not bring the
same increase in population as the West Somerset and Minehead line brought to the coastal
area. The Exe Valley line closed in 1963 and the Taunton—Barnstaple line closed for goods
in 1964 and to passengers in 1966.5
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3
4
5
V. Mitchell and K. Smith Taunton to Barnstaple (Midhurst 1995), unpag.
M. Smith, An Illustrated History of Exmoor’s Railways, 31—6.
M. Oakley, Somerset Railway Stations (2002), 52—3.
Mary Suirat
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Mary Suirat
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