Dartmouth and Torbay Railway

Dartmouth and Torbay Railway

Company type	Public company
Industry	Railway transport
Founded	27 July 1857
Founder	Charles Seale-Hayne (chairman), Isambard Kingdom Brunel (engineer)
Defunct	1872
Fate	Merged into South Devon Railway
Headquarters	Torquay , England, United Kingdom
Area served	Devon, England
Products	Railway transport services

The Dartmouth and Torbay Railway was a broad gauge railway connecting the South Devon Railway branch at Torquay with Kingswear in Devon, England. Initially operated by the South Devon Railway, much of the route today serves as the heritage Dartmouth Steam Railway, while the segment north of Paignton forms part of the Great Western Railway's Riviera Line from .

History to 1865

During the early 1800s, Torbay and Dartmouth were centers of considerable commercial activity. Early attempts in 1844 to establish a branch line from the SDR to Torquay harbour were thwarted by local resistance. In 1845, proposals emerged for rail connections from Dartmouth and Brixham to Exeter, prompting the SDR in 1846 to propose a broad gauge railway extending from Aller to Torquay, Paignton, Brixham, and Kingswear. Nevertheless, due to opposition and financial setbacks following the atmospheric propulsion system’s collapse, plans beyond Torquay were abandoned. The SDR inaugurated its Exeter to Newton Abbot line in December 1846, extending it to Torquay (later renamed ) by December 1848.

A public assembly in Torquay in 1852 opposed extending the line to Torquay harbour. By 1853, two rival schemes surfaced: one aimed at reaching Torquay harbour, and another proposing a route to Paignton, Brixham, and Kingswear with a branch to Torquay harbour. Both failed to secure adequate funding. Led by chairman Charles Seale-Hayne and engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel (excluding the Brixham branch), the Dartmouth and Torbay Railway Company was established through the Dartmouth and Torbay Railway Act 1857 on 27 July, authorizing construction from SDR’s Torquay station to Kingswear alongside operating a ferry service.

Route selection was controversial; Brunel altered an initial coastal viaduct design near Livermead in favor of an inland alignment, which encountered opposition from landowners. The first segment from SDR’s Torquay station to Paignton opened on 2 August 1859, involving complex engineering works including twenty bridges, a viaduct, and a tunnel at Oil Cove.

The subsequent stretch between Paignton and Brixham Road (later ) commenced passenger services on 14 March 1861 and goods traffic on 1 April 1861 under Robert Pearson Brereton, Brunel’s successor. This portion crossed Goodrington Marsh where four timber viaducts were planned; ultimately two were replaced by embankments and two constructed as masonry viaducts within budget constraints. Brixham Road station was situated approximately two miles from Brixham, an important fishing harbor.

With company finances exhausted, a less costly alternative route was proposed terminating at Greenway Quay on the River Dart, featuring steep gradients and reversals near Greenway House; passengers would then transfer via steamer to Dartmouth. Parliament rejected this deviation due to objections from local landowners. The Dartmouth and Torbay Railway Act 1862 granted an extension for completion time while reinstating the original alignment toward Kingswear.

To overcome construction delays, directors formed the Dartmouth Harbour Commissioners which allowed borrowing for harbour enhancements and completion of the railway. The section from Brixham Road to opened for passenger services on 16 August 1864; goods traffic began on 2 April 1866. A steam ferry service linking Kingswear and Dartmouth started immediately thereafter. Facilities included the 'Éclair pier' at Kingswear serving Channel Islands routes and briefly South African connections. The 'Royal Dart' hotel was established anticipating passenger demand.

This concluding segment required substantial earthworks: a tunnel measuring 495 yards, a masonry viaduct near Greenway, plus three timber viaducts spanning Longwood, Noss, and Waterhead Creeks.

The company acquired foreshore land at Dartmouth’s Spithead end where it built a pontoon with an adjoining bridge for ferry operations coordinated with train schedules; ticketing was managed from a hut located on the pontoon.

At Kingswear, a wharf handled coal deliveries used for ship bunkering as well as transfers to trains supplying the Torquay Gas Works.

All sections were single track with lengths as follows:

• Torre to Paignton:
• Paignton to Brixham Road:
• Brixham Road to Kingswear:

Later developments

From its inception, the line was managed by the South Devon Railway, which held a perpetual lease starting 1 January 1866. Following this date, the company primarily functioned as a financial entity until its official merger into the South Devon Railway in 1872.

The fishing town of Brixham was poorly served by Brixham Road station, leading to the creation of a short 2-mile (3.3 km) independent branch by the Torbay and Brixham Railway, which connected directly to Brixham. Passenger services commenced on 28 February 1868, with goods traffic starting on 1 May 1868. This branch linked with the Dartmouth and Torbay Railway at Brixham Road station, which was renamed Churston on the same date.

On 1 February 1876, the South Devon Railway merged with both the Great Western Railway and the Bristol and Exeter Railway, resulting in the formation of a new Great Western Railway. As a result, the Dartmouth line was incorporated into the GWR network.

An agreement reached in 1888 between GWR, harbour commissioners, and Dartmouth Borough Council allowed for completion of GWR’s portion of the Dartmouth Embankment and facilitated construction of a new station.

In a significant engineering feat between 20 and 23 May 1892, GWR’s West of England routes—including those formerly part of the Dartmouth and Torbay Railway—were converted from broad gauge (7 ft 0¼ in) to standard gauge (4 ft 8½ in) over a single weekend.

The Oil Cove tunnel located south of Torquay was opened out in 1910 and replaced by a bridge carrying Torbay Road.

Two wooden viaducts north of Kingswear—Longwood and Noss—were bypassed by a realignment in 1921. Later, in 1928, the timber viaduct at Waterhead Creek was substituted with a double-track concrete and steel structure. This enhancement enabled larger locomotives, including the distinguished GWR 6000 Class "King" class engines pulling the Torbay Express, to operate directly to Kingswear without requiring locomotive changes at Paignton.

On 1 November 1972, ownership of the railway section from Goodrington Sands to Kingswear was transferred into private hands as a heritage railway.

Stations

• (South Devon Railway station)
• Brixham Road (renamed Churston as of 28 February 1868)
• (serving as ferry terminal on the River Dart’s west bank)

For stations inaugurated after GWR’s acquisition, refer to Riviera Line and Dartmouth Steam Railway.

Dartmouth ferry

The heritage Dartmouth Steam Railway currently operates the Dartmouth ferry service.

References

• Awdry, Christopher. Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. Patrick Stephens Limited, Wellingborough, 1990. ISBN 1-85260-049-7.
• MacDermot, E.T. History of the Great Western Railway, Vol. II. Great Western Railway, London, 1931.
• Potts, C.R. The Newton Abbot to Kingswear Railway. The Oakwood Press, 2nd edition, 2014. ISBN 978-0-85361-733-4.

Further reading

• Beck, Keith & Copsey, John. The Great Western in South Devon. Wild Swan Publication, Didcot, 1990. ISBN 0-906867-90-8.
• Potts, C.R. The Newton Abbot to Kingswear Railway (1844 - 1988). Oakwood Press, Oxford, 1998. ISBN 0-85361-387-7.

Records related to the railway company can be accessed at The National Archives.