THE Tamar Valley Line, from Plymouth to Gunnislake, is living proof that rural branch lines are much more than tourist attractions.

The 14-mile route linking Devon's busiest conurbation with a string of villages is a busy commuter railway which has benefitted from some innovative approaches by the long-standing community rail partnership for the line, working positively with train operator First Great Western (FGW) and local authorities.

The route and its history

In the early 1960s Dr Beeching, the chairman of British Railways, who controversially cut many branch lines in Britain, proposed to close an odd little branch from Bere Alston to Gunnislake and Callington. Fortunately his efforts were thwarted. While Tavistock and Okehampton lost their train services, tiny Gunnislake kept them, although Callington didn't.

The line's survival was down to the difficult road access to many of the communities served by what is today's 'Tamar Valley Line'. Places like Calstock, Bere Ferrers and Gunnislake itself were served by small, winding roads which are difficult to get buses down. The line survived and is now prospering, but it was a near-run thing!

A gem of

a station

Bere Ferrers is a little gem of a station, the base for Chris Groves' 'Tamar Belle Heritage Centre'.

Chris has made the station the achievement of a lifetime ambition. He said: 'It was the late 60s when I realised that the railways I'd known as a child and taken for granted had all but disappeared. I'd always dreamed of owning a railway station.

'After I'd made some money in business, it happened that Bere Ferrers came up for auction in 1979. I was as surprised as anybody when I ended up being the owner. I thought, what have I done? But the impetus was there to make it look like a station again and bring the whole thing back to life.

'I wanted to record and recapture the country railway. To me the whole atmosphere of railways is epitomised by the country station with its station master who knew everything that was coming and going through the village. All the goods would arrive by rail. People too went everywhere by rail. They went to war; they went on holiday, on honeymoon.

'We've constructed a time warp. Visitors get off the train and do a double-take. At the end of the day it's about seeing people enjoy exploring this unique station and what we've recreated here that gives the greatest pleasure and keeps us going.'

There is a tragic side to Bere Ferrers' railway history. During the first world war it was the scene of the worst accident in Devon's railway history. On September 24th 1917 an 18-coach long troop train, mostly conveying members of the New Zealand expeditionary Force from Plymouth to Salisbury Plain stopped, unexpectedly, at the station. A number of soldiers, thinking this was a 'refreshment' stop, jumped out of the carriage on the wrong side, right into the path of the oncoming Waterloo–Plymouth express. Ten soldiers were killed in the tragedy.

Fleeing the city blitz

Bere Alston and surrounding villages were places of refuge for many Plymouth people during the second world war blitz. TWE Roche in his booklet 'The Withered Arm' describes his own wartime experiences in 1941, when he joined a train coming out of Plymouth filled with families escaping the bombing. The guard told him that many of the people getting off at intermediate stations had nowhere to sleep but roadside ditches. Luckier ones managed to get longer-term accommodation in the outlying villages to escape the terror of aerial bombardment.

The railway beyond Bere Alston is quite different to the former 'main line' down the Tamar Valley to Plymouth, though what was once a 70mph double track railway now has more of the feel of a country branch line. yet the route beyond Bere Alston to Gunnislake has always been about as 'minor' a railway as you can get.

Its origins are obscure and go back to the heyday of copper mining in the area, in the mid-1850s. The area was incredibly rich in mineral wealth and a railway provided the best way of taking out valuable granite and copper.

The first railway in the area was a tramway built in 1859 from the Devon Great Consols copper mines down to Morwellham Quay. During winter, when the trees aren't in leaf, you can get a distant view of the quay from the train.

The Cornish side of the Tamar was equally — if not more — rich in minerals. In 1872 the East Cornwall Mineral Railway opened a 3ft 6ins line and ran from Calstock Quay via a cable-operated incline to the heights above the village.

From there to Kelly Bray, about a mile from Callington, the railway used conventional traction, winding round the side of Kit Hill on yet more steeply-graded and tightly-curved track, serving several mines in between.

Traffic developed to the stage that a direct connection to the rest of the rail network was required, and the Plymouth Devonport and South Western Railway gained parliamentary sanction to convert the 3ft 6ins line from Callington to standard gauge, build a new 'deviation' from Gunnislake to Calstock which then crossed the Tamar by Calstock Viaduct.

In 1891 the railway was taken over by the Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction, which already owned the line from St Budeaux to Lydford via Bere Alston. It obtained Light Railway Orders in 1900 and 1905 to convert the route to standard gauge and connect to its railway at Bere Alston.

The incline from the quay was closed and a new, more circuitous route, was taken beyond the viaduct to serve Calstock, Gunnislake and several small halts to Callington (Kelly Bray).

The copper industry had gone into decline by the time the extended railway had been completed. However, arsenic mining replaced copper and it was reckoned that the Tamar Valley was responsible for half the world's production of the highly toxic substance. When the arsenic ran out, the miners were left with little option but to emigrate for work in South Africa, America, Australia and Mexico. It was common for the miners to leave their families behind and be away for months if not years. There would have been many a tearful farewell from local stations up the valley.

After the first world war mineral traffic declined to near-extinction but this was compensated by an increase in market garden produce, both flowers and fruit.

For decades, the Callington branch was known unofficially as 'The Strawberry Line', with the area reputed to have the best strawberries in Britain (and in turn, the world!). Sadly, but inevitably, freight traffic was withdrawn in 1966. The local fruit industry itself declined to a mere shadow of its former self.

The line today

The line has nine services each weekday following an additional service being provided in December 2008 in response to strong local lobbying. Morning and evening commuter trains are particularly busy and the First Great Western class 150 'Sprinters' barely manage to cope with demand. In 2001 the line was carrying 121,000 passengers whilst last year it is likely to have topped 170,000.

Richard Burningham, manager of the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership, has a particularly soft spot for the line:?'We're really pleased with the success of the Tamar Valley Line over the last few years. The line is very important to the rural communities it serves, providing a key link to employment, education and shopping in Plmouth.'

First Great Western's Mark Hopwood said growth on its 'community rail' routes is the best it has ever been: 'From April 2007 to April 2011, passenger journeys on First Great Western branch lines experienced record growth, with the travel on the Tamar Valley line seeing a 21.8% increase.

'This is a shining example of the way in which careful investment and partnership to improve the rail network can produce huge benefits to our customers and to the local economy.'

Local commuting on the line has been encouraged by the increasingly popular carnet tickets which were introduced by the Partnership with support from the train operator (then Wessex Trains) back in 2004.

About 200 carnets are sold each month, from local shops, post offices, petrol stations and even a ladies' hairdressers. Local businesses get 10% of the sale, which is £19 for Bere Alston/Bere Ferrers travel to Plymouth, or £24 for ten single journeys from Gunnislake and Calstock. The scheme encourages local travel on the line and gives a boost to hard-pressed small businesses.

Community Rail Partnership

The Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership is the longest-established rail partnership in the country. It was set up in 1991 and its success inspired the community rail partnership 'movement' across the UK.

There are now more than 50 community rail partnerships across Britain. The partnership brought together BR with local authorities and national parks and expanded to serve all of the branch lines in the two counties. It is hosted by the University of Plymouth and has three staff, with Richard Burningham leading the team with colleagues Rebecca Catterall and Sandra Horn. Richard was awarded an MBE for his services to the railway industry two years ago.

The partnership has produced an award-winning range of line guides and other publicity promoting each of the Devon and Cornwall branches. It organises special events and works closely with the university students' union on volunteering projects. The link with the university is unique for a CRP and brings in valuable resources.

The link with the university students' union has become a great success story for the partnership across the two counties. Students give up their weekends to do voluntary work along the branch lines, including Tamar Valley. Last year they helped paint the railway fence at Bere Ferrers – in Southern green, naturally!

The rail partnership operates at several educational levels, including work with primary school students as well as with university undergraduates.

First Great Western's support for community rail has led to a string of awards, including the top prize at the 2011 ACoRP Community Rail Awards in Sheffield, to which FGW ran its own special train for delegates using one of their class 158s.

The partnership's 'Rail Ale Trail' attracts a growing number of visitors to the area, keen to sample excellent real ale pubs, and the local scenery and culture.

Both Devon and Cornwall councils have been long-standing supporters of the rail partnership.

Onward to Tavistock?

The really big opportunity is the growing likelihood of re-opening the line from Bere Alston to Tavistock. Just five miles of track are involved and there are no major obstacles in the way. The prize is to serve a town with 12,500 inhabitants.

The scheme's promoter has been Kilbride Community Rail who have now teamed up with Bovis Homes, with aspirations to build 750 homes which would be served by the new railway. Devon County is also taking an increasingly active role in the railway's delivery. Current plans are to provide an alternating service, with one train going to Tavistock and the next to Gunnislake, providing an hourly service down the core route from Bere Alston to Plymouth.

The south-west has no shortage of scenic railways but the Tamar Valley Line must rank amongst the finest. But it isn't just a tourist railway – and you could even argue it's primary purpose isn't tourism at all, but daily, bread and butter, commuting and providing local residents with easy access to a range of services in Plymouth. It's a vital lifeline for commuters, shoppers and students in the Bere Peninsula and East Cornwall. It's a great place to visit; the area is saturated with industrial history, reflected in its 'world heritage' status, and there are far too many tempting pubs along the way.

Whether it's for leisure or business, the Tamar Valley Line is up there amongst the really outstanding community railways of Britain. And if Tavistock gets its trains back, the route will be set for a further huge leap in popularity.

Many thanks to Richard Burningham and Rebecca Catterall of Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership, Colin Charlton of Plymouth University, Ian Harrison of Devon County Council, Mark Hopwood and Julian Crow of First Great Western, Chris Groves of The Tamar Belle and Peter Frost of Kilbride Community Rail. Visit http://www.carfreedaysout.co.uk">www.carfreedaysout.co.uk for more on the line and the Partnership's activities.

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