The original construction in the middle of the nineteenth century was significant in giving rail connection to the important, but remote towns of North Devon that had hitherto relied on the packhorse and coastal shipping.

It remains open between Exeter and Barnstaple, and passenger trains on the route are branded the Tarka Line for marketing purposes.

Several directors of the B&ER and Great Western Railway were on the provisional committee, together with the Lord Lieutenant of Devonshire and other worthies; and the scheme became inflated with lines to Taunton and Plymouth, and the estimated cost rose to £1.75 million.

However the deposited plans were submitted to Parliament late, and the bill was rejected as not complying with Standing Orders; no more was heard of this North Devon Railway and £38,668 had been expended on surveys and designs fruitlessly.

The capital was to be £700,000, to build from Barnstaple to Crediton; in effect the route of the 1845 North Devon Railway that had been postponed by decision of Dalhousie's committee.

The difference from the previous scheme was that the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) was heavily supporting the proposed line, seeing the chance to capture a large area of territory.

[1][page needed] When the broad gauge interest lost their proposed North Devon Railway, they lost no time in negotiating with the TVER promoters, and provisionally agreed a lease of the line to the B&ER; there was already a corresponding provisional agreement for the B&ER to lease the Exeter and Crediton line.

To frustrate further alignment to the narrow gauge, Buller signed a two-year contract with a George Hennett to work the line on 7 April 1847.

By March 1847 the original Taw Vale line from Barnstaple to Fremington was substantially complete, and the first sod of the extension was dug, and contracts for it let.

The Taw Vale Extension Railway Act 1846 had left the crucial question of the gauge of the new line to be determined by the Board of Trade.

The E&CR and the original Taw Vale line to Bideford had been authorised without the requirement to get Board of Trade approval for their gauge.

In fact the sole tangible outcome was that the original Taw Vale line from Barnstaple to Fremington had opened on the narrow gauge in August 1848; it was operated by horse traction, for goods traffic only.

The E&CR was to reinstate broad gauge on one line of the double track, and pay the B&ER to install the essential junction at Cowley Bridge.

The first sod of the new construction was cut on 2 February 1851; Thomas Brassey was the contractor, and the line was to be leased to him, but hiring in rolling stock from the B&ER.

[7][page needed] As the North Devon Railway had allowed the powers for the Bideford line to lapse, that town now was at a disadvantage.

Commercial interests in the town formed the Bideford Extension Railway themselves, getting powers on 4 August 1853; the line opened on the broad gauge on 2 November 1855, worked by the North Devon company.

Agreement was reached, and ratified by Parliament in the London and South Western Railway (Exeter and North Devon) Act 1860 (23 & 24 Vict.

This authorised the construction of a connecting line from Queen Street to St Davids; the laying of mixed gauge track on the B&ER from there to Cowley Bridge Junction; the leasing by the LSWR of the E&CR, NDR and Bideford Extension lines and to mix their track gauge.

The E&CR shareholders ratified a seven-year lease to the LSWR, from 1 January 1862; narrow gauge trains ran to Crediton from 3 February 1862.

Col Yolland of the Board of Trade inspected the Queen Street to St Davids connection on 27 January 1862 and passed it.

He found it satisfactory, but commented adversely on the curve at Cowley Bridge, which had been sharpened considerably when the first viaduct over the River Exe there had been reconstructed.

Yolland made a further inspection, this time of the North Devon and the Bideford Extension lines, following their conversion to mixed gauge.

The LSWR attended to the specific items and gave assurances regarding general maintenance, and were able to run narrow gauge trains between Crediton and Bideford from 2 March 1863.

As first offered to the Board of Trade Inspector, Lt Col Hutchinson, the old station necessitated changing passengers to cross the line on the level; a footbridge was required and duly provided.

With a considerable network in Devon now open or in course of completion, there were greatly increasing traffic volumes, and the LSWR decided to modernise the signalling.

On 1 October 1873 most of the stations from Copplestone to Umberleigh were equipped with semaphore signals and block instruments using Preece's three wire system.

Single track had become a serious limitation, and the LSWR took powers to double much of the line, including the Exeter and Crediton section and the junction approach at Cowley Bridge, and the provision there of a new signal box in addition to the B&ER one.

Development of the North Devon seaside towns as holiday resorts took place towards the end of the nineteenth century, although they remained far less important than their southern counterparts.

In addition, the original Exeter & Crediton section and the short length to Coleford Junction, carried all the Plymouth traffic.

The through London services disappeared with the rationalisation of West Country operations, and in 1964[10] there were ten stopping trains each way daily from Exeter to Ilfracombe.