{"id":7227,"date":"2024-06-25T10:02:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-25T09:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.teignrail.co.uk\/scouting\/?p=7227"},"modified":"2026-03-14T10:28:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T10:28:17","slug":"the-remainder-of-the-north-devon-railway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teignrail.co.uk\/scouting\/the-remainder-of-the-north-devon-railway\/","title":{"rendered":"99 The Remainder of the North Devon Railway"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Though four fifths of the North Devon remain, the railway’s estate and functionality is greatly reduced. Despite having ridden beside much of the operational length for some years past, the scout had never followed it from the junction to the present-day terminus on one ride.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cowley Bridge Junction<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The junction of two turnpikes and the confluence of two rivers was not the best place to introduce the junction of two double lines of railway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A turnaround of the arrangement at St. David’s, it is here left to Plymouth and right to London.
Before the railway was built, the Barnstaple turnpike made a junction with the Tiverton road in front of the Cowley Bridge Inn (now closed) at right.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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The locker containing the inflatable flood defence.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The scout remembers as a boy, returning from Plymouth half asleep in a Mark I compartment, the train, drawn by an “800,” proceeding very slowly in the dark over the bridges when the river was in flood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flooding at Cowley Bridge Junction<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the above piece was written, the Environment Agency has raised the city’s flood defences and these now extend upstream to Cowley Bridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A channel has also been made beneath the G.W. main line just east of the junction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scout followed the busy A377 and struck off towards Langford.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The view from New Bridge on Langford Road looking towards Exeter.
The River Creedy, whose bridge adjoins the railway’s, lies at right.
The line was singled in 1984. +<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n