Last
week, in a comment, Maria from Spain mentioned the only railway
station in the country without a railway – Dartmouth – and she
asks whether or not that is true. Well, yes, it was but, as we shall
see, is no longer.
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| The Station Restaurant - once Dartmouth Station |
The
story starts back in the middle of the 19th century. A line had been
built from London all the way down to Cornwall. It crossed the river
Dart at Totnes, just above stream of the old road bridge but that is
a good way from Dartmouth (on the west bank of the Dart) itself which
suffered in those days from very poor inland transport links. So it
was that a branch line was proposed which would link Dartmouth to the
main line, joining it at Paignton (which is to the east of the Dart).
Agreement
as to where the line should run was reached fairly quickly but it
proved impossible to agree on where a bridge should be built. In
fairness it must be remembered that at that time the Dart was a busy
port and that the ships that came into the harbour and on up to
Totnes with their tall masts were important to the local economy and
a bridge would have put an end to that trade. So it was decided that
the line should be run down into Kingswear (the town – then village
– on the opposite side of the river to Dartmouth) and that the last
part of the journey should be by ferry. Nevertheless there was a
station built on the Dartmouth embankment complete with ticket office
and waiting room – and its own Station Master. From there you
walked down a covered gangway to a floating pontoon, also covered, and so onto the ferry which took you across the river where a similar
arrangement took you up to the platforms.
This
line opened in 1864 and continued to operate until the branch line
was closed on 30 December 1972. The ferry was then passed to the
local authority and the railway line to the Dart Valley Railway
Company which was already operating the heritage line linking Totnes
to Buckfastleigh. Nowadays both the line and the ferry are operated
by the Dartmouth Steam Railway and Riverboat Company who offer a
circular tour to visitors. This takes you from Dartmouth to Totnes by
riverboat, thence by ‘bus to Paignton, by rail to Kingswear and
back to Dartmouth on the ferry.
The
station itself was rebuilt in 1986 when the embankment was raised and
other flood protection works carried out and is now a restaurant.
As
you know, we live a field away from the Dart some distance upstream
of Totnes and the other day I went for my first walk around the
gardens at Dartington Hall since the beginning of November when I
first fell ill. All the photos here (apart from the one of the
station) were taken on that walk. I hope you enjoy them.
