PASSENGERS will be able to enjoy the grand old days of steam once more next weekend when a new service begins at Okehampton. Starting on Sunday, a Darfield No 1, a 1953 Hunslet locomotive, will be taking to the tracks, as part of a regular weekend link between Okehampton Station and Exeter. The locomotive, which has spent most of its life shunting 16-ton coal trucks around the Darfield main colliery near Barnsley, has been rented by Dartmoor Railway for the summer. The company?s own steam engine has unfortunately become ?terminally ill?, according to Stuart Farmer, the railway?s general manager, and would cost £120,000 to repair, so the Darfield No 1 has been brought in to bring back the days of steam to travellers this summer. Geoff Mills, of Dartmoor Railway, said: ?Passengers to and from Exeter will be riding in a two coach diesel multiple unit, a DMU, which will be stopping at Sampford Courtenay, Crediton, Exeter St David?s and Exeter Central. ?At Okehampton, they can then transfer to the steam engine which will take them to Meldon and back.? Mr Mills said the railway intends to run the service every Sunday until September 24, with five trains on each occasion. The fare will be just £5 for an all-day rover ticket, with a special offer of just £3.50 for the first train from Okehampton on each Sunday. ?Local producers are producing jams, chutney and other products for sale in the Okehampton buffet and at Meldon, walkers can tour the surrounding tors and see the Meldon viaduct, dam and reservoir. ?There is also a buffet at Meldon, so no-one will go hungry or thirsty,? said Mr Mills. He added that since the news of a steam return to Okehampton, the railway has had many enquiries from enthusiasts from all over the South West.
