South Devon and Tavistock Railway

The South Devon and Tavistock Railway was a broad gauge railway linking Plymouth with Tavistock in Devon, England. It opened in 1859, was extended by the Launceston and South Devon Railway to Launceston, Cornwall, in 1865, and was closed in 1962.

Chronology

• 1854 South Devon and Tavistock authorised by Act of Parliament
• 1859 SD&T Railway opened from Plymouth to Tavistock
• 1862 Launceston and South Devon Railway authorised by Act of Parliament
• 1865 SD&T amalgamated with the South Devon Railway
• 1865 L&SD Railway opened from Tavistock to Launceston
• 1873 L&SD amalgamated with the South Devon Railway
• 1876 SDR amalgamated with the Great Western Railway
• 1876 London and South Western Railway opens from Okehampton to Lydford, from where they reached Plymouth over the South Devon and Tavistock line, mixed gauge being laid for the purpose
• 1883 Princetown Railway opens from a junction at Yelverton
• 1892 The broad gauge lines converted to standard gauge
• 1948 Great Western Railway nationalised into British Railways
• 1956 Princetown branch closed
• 1962 Railway closed beyond Marsh Mills

History

The Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway, a horse-worked line, had brought rail transport to Plymouth on 26 September 1823. When the South Devon Railway (SDR) brought a main line from Exeter St Davids in 1848, where it linked with a route from London Paddington, schemes to expand into the hinterland were put forward. However rival schemes from London......
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