North Devon and Cornwall Junction Light Railway

Ball clay was an important mineral but its weight and bulk required efficient transportation; the material had been brought to main line railways by a 3 ft (914 mm) gauge tramway.

Expanding volumes prompted conversion to a light railway—requiring less complex engineering and operational procedures than a full railway—and it was opened on 27 July 1925.

The conversion from a tramway was overseen by Colonel Stephens, the famous owner and operator of marginal English and Welsh railways.

[2] The northern part from Meeth and Marland, which was reconstructed from the narrow gauge railway, continued to carry ball clay, but not passengers, until August 1982 (Thomas[1] calls the siding "Marsland" on page 77 but this is an error[3][4][5]).

Built as cheaply as possible, and partly following the alignment of the former tramway, the railway had continuous sharp curves and ruling gradients in the range of 1 in 45 to 1 in 50 (2.22 % to 2%) The stations on the line were:[6] The line was single throughout, worked by Electric Train Tablet (using Tyer's No 6 instruments), and with a maximum speed of 20 mph (32 km/h) from Torrington to Dunsbear Halt, and 25 mph (40 km/h) from there to Halwill.