Dunsland Cross railway station

Dunsland Cross was a railway station on the Bude Branch that closed in 1966. Dunsland Cross station in the parish of Holsworthy was 6 miles East of the village, now town of Holsworthy. The station was opened in 1879 by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) when Holsworthy station was the terminus of the line, some years before the route to serve the coastal town of Bude was finally opened in 1898.

Dunsland Cross
Site of the station in 1995
Location	Dunsland Cross, Torridge England
Grid reference	SS4054502778
Platforms	2
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Pre-grouping	London and South Western Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway Western Region of British Railways
Key dates
20 January 1879[1]	Opened
3 October 1966[1]	Closed to passengers and goods

Railway cottages at Dunsland Cross station.

Okehampton to Bude Line
Bude Canal Wharf Bude Bude Canal Woolston Viaduct Whitstone and Bridgerule River Tamar Derriton Viaduct Holsworthy Holsworthy Viaduct Dunsland Cross North Devon and Cornwall Junction Light Railway North Cornwall Railway Halwill Junction Ashbury Maddaford Moor Halt to Plymouth Meldon Viaduct Meldon Quarry Okehampton Dartmoor Railway

The station had been proposed for closure in the Beeching Report. The station served the remote rural communities around Dunsland Cross.

History

Course of the old railway near Dunsland Cross station.

The LSWR's branch line from Okehampton to Bude took nineteen years and four Acts of Parliament. The original line had been authorised as far as Holsworthy where a station was opened on 20 January 1879.[2] The Holsworthy and Bude Railway Act (c.ccii) was passed on 20 August 1883. However no works were commenced on the extension and the deadline for completion of the line by October 1891 was looking unlikely to be met, resulting in the LSWR asking for an extra year to complete the works. Nevertheless, since by the end of 1891 no progress had been made, a further bill was promoted seeking the abandonment of the line; the Act, the Holsworthy and Bude Rly. Abandonment Act (c.xx), was passed on 20 May 1892. This did not deter the residents of Stratton and Bude who, in 1894, successfully lobbied the LSWR to promote a second bill. The Act was passed on 6 July 1895 and authorised a somewhat different route than that set out in the first Act.[2]

The Station

The line was single track; however, a signal box with a passing loop was located here with sidings, a cattle pen and a goods shed. Several railway workers cottages were built here and these are now private dwellings (2012). The station had a ticket office and waiting room with a simple shelter on the second platform.[3] The station name board also informed passengers that this was the station for Shebbear College.

Services

Passenger services were never very frequent. The pattern of services changed after the handover of the line to the Western Region of British Railways from 1 January 1963 when services became more local and the through-coaches to Waterloo were discontinued.[4] Bude had a local shuttle service to and from Okehampton for the final months of its existence.[4]

The Station today

The station itself is a private dwelling and as stated the railway cottages survive. The hamlet has been named Dunsland Cross Station.

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Halwill Junction		British Rail Western Region Bude Branch		Holsworthy

References

Notes

1. Butt 1995, p. 86
2. Southern E-Group, "Bude"
3. Old Maps Archived 30 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved : 2012-10-17
4. Pryer, Page 31

Sources

• Butt, R (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1.

• Pryer, G.A.; Bowring, G.J. (1980). An Historical Survey of Selected Southern Stations: Volume One. Oxford: Oxford Publishing Company. ISBN 0-86093-016-5.

External links

• Dunsland Cross station in 1966