The high wasteland of Dartmoor stands between Plymouth and Exeter, effectively blocking any fast transport route. There are two options: along the southern slopes and eastern slopes of Dartmoor, and along western and northern slopes.
On 2 April 1849 Plymouth Millbay station was connected to London via Bristol by the Great Western Railway and its partners. It took the easier and better populated southern and eastern route.
On 1 June 1865 the Launceston and South Devon Railway connected Plymouth to Lydford, on along the western slopes.
On 17 May 1876 Plymouth was connected to London via Salisbury - a faster route than via Bristol. The London and South Western Railway paid its rival the Great Western Railway (GWR) to use the Lydford line and then its own tracks to Exeter and beyond.
From 28 March 1877 both companies used the new North Road station in Plymouth, with London-bound trains leaving in the same direction. L&SWR trains branched off at Tavistock Junction for Exeter St Davids via Tavistock, Lydford and Okehampton. GWR trains carried straight on at Tavistock Junction for Exeter St Davids via Totnes, Newton Abbot and Dawlish. By the time trains reached Exeter, the two companies' trains were facing in opposite directions.
Hampered by having to use the slow and congested single-track line to Lydford to access its fast London route, the LSWR built its own double-track line between Lydford and Plymouth North Road and opened it on 1 June 1890. From that point, the L&SWR expresses reached London faster than the GWR expresses, still running via Bristol.
Fast forward to the rationalisation of the railway network in the 1960s. The former L&SWR line between Plymouth and Bere Alston was kept open due to poor road alternatives. But the line from Bere Alston to Tavistock and Okehampton was closed on 6 May 1968. The line between Okehampton and Crediton closed to passengers in 1972. It was reopened in November 2021. The modern Okehampton line is very much a branch, mostly single-track and with trains terminating in Exeter.
Reopening the line between Bere Alston and Tavistock has been under discussion for the last forty years and every few years an expensive feasibility study takes place. Some people assumed that reopening the entire line between Bere Alston and Okehampton would provide resilience for services from Cornwall and Plymouth, especially in the light of the closure of the former GWR line at Dawlish in 2014 due to storm damage. However, they have forgotten - or never knew - how slow the L&SWR line was from Plymouth to Exeter.
Trains between Plymouth and Exeter St Davids on weekdays in 1960 and 2025
Green cells show services via Okehampton, brown cells those via Dawlish. As the Dawlish services are taken from the Southern Region timetable, it is likely that stopping services are not included.
Fastest train via Dawlish: 1 hour 27 minutes
Fastest train via Okehampton: 1 hour 33 minutes.
Slowest train via Dawlish: 1 hour 48 minutes
Slowest train via Okehampton: 2 hours 26 minutes.
Trains between Okehampton and Exeter St Davids on weekdays in 1960 and 2025
Trains between Plymouth and Tavistock North in 1960
Trains between Plymouth and Bere Alston in 1963 and 2025
