# Mortehoe and Woolacombe Station - June 06, 1983



## jhluxton (Dec 7, 2010)

Next installment of my abandoned Southern Railway stations in the south west.

I visited Mortehoe and Woolacombe Station on June 06, 1983. Unfortunately I only took these four photographs and looking back wish I had taken many more. For some reason or other lost in the mists of time three of the transparencies ended up somewhat over exposed but I have managed to tweak them with Photoshop to make them presentable. 

The station was opened by the London and South Western Railway on July 20, 1874. It passed to the Southern Railway at the grouping and then on to British Railways Southern Region on nationalisation in 1948. In the 1960s it was transferred along with other Southern lines west of Exeter to British Railways Western Region. The station, along with the rest of the line to Ilfracombe closed completely on October 05, 1970. 

The North Devon Railway Company attempted to reopen the line in the early 1970s but were unable to raise the asking price. The tracks were removed in 1974. 

In the mid 1980s the site was redeveloped into the "Once Upon A Time Children's Theme Park" which had a railway theme. However this closed at the end of the 2005 Season.

The site is believed to have been undergoing redevelopment in 2008. There are some photos of the start of this redevlopment work on the Disused Stations web site. 


View north towards Ilfracombe from down platform




View south towards Barnstaple Town and Barnstaple Junction from the down platform



Entrance gate to platform



Pooley Weighbridge remains to see an intact example see my report on Okehampton Station



Hope you enjoy them - more stations to follow!

John


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## turner74 (Dec 7, 2010)

*nice pics*

Is that a mk1 granada in the second pic with a mark 1 transit in the background


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## jhluxton (Dec 7, 2010)

turner74 said:


> Is that a mk1 granada in the second pic with a mark 1 transit in the background



Yes loks like. If you look further to the back ground of the view with the cars you will just see a 1966 MG1100 - my first car - more rust underneath than metal! 

John


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## Tea Lady (Dec 8, 2010)

The red one is a Mk 1 capri and the white one is a cortina.

I find these fascinating as used to keep horses at a farm near Halwill Junction and ride along a lot of these lines after their closure.

There are still a few homes made from old railway carriages and sheds from freight carriages (not sure on the proper term) in the area?

Sadly Halwill Juction is covered in houses now so a lot has been lost.

Emma


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