{"id":6630,"date":"2016-11-26T17:48:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-26T17:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.teignrail.co.uk\/scouting\/?p=6630"},"modified":"2024-12-11T15:48:38","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T15:48:38","slug":"haytor-tramway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teignrail.co.uk\/scouting\/haytor-tramway\/","title":{"rendered":"Haytor Tramway"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the most interesting discoveries of 2017 was the extent of the Haytor Tramway at Ventiford Basin, between Teigngrace and Heathfield on the Moretonhampstead Branch.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was the terminus of the Stover Canal and the tramway, but no one had any idea that the track layout remained beneath the surface; all else beyond where the tramway was buried by the later railway around Granite Siding had gone and it was thought that the section near Pottery Road, Bovey, was the lowest to survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ventiford Basin was in ruins until a few years ago but recent archaeological work by the Stover Canal Society and construction of a neighbouring path as part of the Dartmoor “Granite and Gears” project has transformed the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through M. & S.D.R., G.W.R., B.R. and another ownership, the canal passed to Network Rail as an historical legacy. The track authority leases the dry “waterway” to Teignbridge District Council, which sublets it to the society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only 24 years after this stone age line was built, Daniel Gooch was able to drive a train from Paddington to Exeter and back along what was to be the modern railway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n