Dartmouth Steam Railway
The Dartmouth and Torbay Railway was authorised in 1857 and opened in stages between 1859 and 1864, terminating at Kingswear on the Dart estuary opposite Dartmouth itself. The line was operated from the outset by the South Devon Railway and passed with it into the Great Western Railway in 1876.
The Kingswear branch survived the British Railways era largely intact thanks to its tourist traffic, but was identified for closure under the rationalisation of the early 1970s. The last BR train ran on 28 October 1972. On 30 December 1972 the line was sold to the Dart Valley Railway Company, the same private company that had taken on the Buckfastleigh to Totnes branch in 1969 as the Dart Valley Railway. A winter service was operated by Dart Valley from 1 January 1973, principally for the children of Churston Grammar School, and from the following summer the railway became a purely seasonal tourist operation.
The railway is unusual in the British heritage sector for operating as a commercial business rather than a charitable trust, and unusual again for offering a combined rail-and-river ticket: passengers continue from Kingswear to Dartmouth by ferry, then have the option of a round-trip river cruise upstream toward Totnes. The Paignton to Dartmouth operation was subsequently rebranded the Dartmouth Steam Railway and is today run by the Dartmouth Steam Railway and Riverboat Company.
History
The Dart Valley Railway Company purchased the Paignton–Kingswear branch from British Railways in 1972 and reopened it immediately to steam passenger services, making it one of the earliest heritage railway purchases on a line that had only just closed rather than having been derelict for years. The company also operated the South Devon Railway (Totnes–Buckfastleigh) for a period before the two operations separated. The Dartmouth Steam Railway and Riverboat Company operates the line today, combining the steam railway with river cruises on the Dart — a combination that has proved commercially successful in the Torbay holiday market.
Original line history
The Torbay and Dartmouth Railway was opened in 1864, authorised to build a line from Torre (on the South Devon Railway's Torquay branch) through Paignton and along the coast to Kingswear, from where a ferry connection had always served Dartmouth on the opposite bank of the Dart. The GWR worked the line from opening and absorbed the company in 1876. The route through the red sandstone coastal scenery of Torbay and along the Dart estuary gave passengers some of the most spectacular railway views in the south-west, and the line became an important carrier of holiday traffic from the Victorian era through to the post-war holiday camp era.
Stations and infrastructure
Paignton Queens Park is the northern terminus, adjacent to Paignton's Network Rail station. Goodrington Sands serves the popular Torbay beach and holiday park area. Churston is a junction station where the former Brixham branch diverged. Kingswear is the southern terminus on the west bank of the Dart, with the connecting passenger ferry to Dartmouth directly from the station platform. The Kingswear–Dartmouth ferry connection is a fundamental part of the railway's visitor offer.
Special events and operations
The railway runs a programme of Thomas the Tank Engine events, dining trains, and seasonal specials including Santa Specials in December. Combined rail-and-river packages with the associated river cruise operation are a particular feature of the Dartmouth Steam Railway's visitor offer. Visiting locomotives occasionally supplement the resident fleet.
Visitor information
Paignton Queens Park station is a short walk from Paignton's Network Rail station, which has direct services from London Paddington, Bristol, and Exeter. Torbay is accessible by road from the A380. Day-rover tickets are available, and combined rail-and-ferry packages give access to Dartmouth. Through tickets combining train and river cruise are available. The line operates a full service through the main holiday season from spring to autumn, with reduced services in winter.