Crediton was an important town at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and business interests there considered how transport links could be improved.

In 1831 it was proposed to make a railway connection to a dock on the tidal River Exe at Exeter was needed; onward transport would be by coastal shipping.

The Great Western Railway (GWR) was opened between London and Bristol in 1841, revolutionising transport in the area it served.

This in turn led to the construction of the South Devon Railway (SDR) on from Exeter to Plymouth and Torquay, opened in stages between 30 May 1846 and 2 April 1849.

Business interests in Crediton were not slow to realise that the railway at Exeter was a benefit for their town if a railway branch could be made to it, and in 1844 a proposal was formulated to make a line from Crediton to Cowley Bridge on the B&ER; the required capital of £60,000 was soon subscribed and a bill was put forward in the 1845 session of Parliament.

Parliament established a committee of members of the Board of Trade, headed by Lord Dalhousie, to evaluate competing schemes for any particular district; it was assumed that only one line would satisfy all local requirements.

[1][2] Dalhousie's committee, widely referred to as the Five Kings, considered alternative proposals to link Barnstaple with the emerging national network, via Crediton or otherwise.

At this time its nearest approach was east of Salisbury,[note 1] but it was determined to get a main line to Exeter and into north Devon.

The majority of the directors of the E&CR, and the chairman J. W. Buller, were strongly in favour of the B&ER and were dismayed by this sudden rejection of their intentions.

Buller quickly signed a contract to work the line with a George Hennett on 7 April 1847, with the intention of frustrating the alignment to the LSWR bloc.

Amid angry scenes and a scuffle, Buller and his friends departed the meeting, taking the minute book with them.

[3][1] Notwithstanding the difficulties in shareholders' meetings, construction had been continuing and was ready—as a double track broad gauge line—early in 1847, except for the actual connection to the B&ER at Cowley Bridge, and the directors anticipated starting train services.

However the LSWR supporters among the shareholding obtained an injunction from the Court of Chancery forbidding them from opening on the broad gauge.

This was founded on the resolution of 12 April 1847; the significance was that once opened to passengers, a line could not change its gauge without a fresh act of Parliament.

It was not until February 1851 that a shareholders' meeting could be informed by William Chaplin, Chairman both of the E&CR and the LSWR, that a lease to the B&ER had been agreed; they would work the line, altering one of the two narrow gauge tracks to broad gauge, and installing the junction with their own line at Cowley Bridge; these works would be at the expense of the E&CR.

)[2] Captain Mynne of the Board of Trade inspected the line and approved it, and a ceremonial opening took place on 12 May 1851,[6] full public services starting the same day.

c. lxxxiii) of 24 July 1851 it renamed itself the North Devon Railway Company (NDR), reduced its capital and its plans, and settled for a single broad gauge line connecting Barnstaple with Crediton.

The act authorised NDR trains to run over the E&CR and B&ER to reach Exeter, by agreement.

[2] The LSWR had long harboured intentions to extend into north and west Devon, and formerly had thought of an independent line connecting to the E&CR.

c. ciii) of 3 July 1860 authorised the construction of a steeply graded connecting line from Queen Street to St Davids at Exeter, mixing the gauge on the B&ER to Cowley Bridge, and providing mixed gauge track on the E&CR, and also the NDR line.

The SR had a vigorous publicity organisation and developed the Devon and Cornwall holiday traffic, and the famous Atlantic Coast Express passenger train reached the towns served.