Whitstone and Bridgerule railway station

Whitstone and Bridgerule was a railway station on the Bude Branch that closed in 1966. The station was opened in 1898 by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) when the line was extended from Holsworthy station to the new terminus of the line at Bude.

Whitstone and Bridgerule
The old station in 2004
General information
Location	Whitstone and Bridgerule, Torridge England
Grid reference	SS269014
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
1 November 1898[1]	Opened
3 October 1966[1]	Closed to passengers and goods
Location

v t e Okehampton to Bude Line
Legend
Bude Bude Canal Wharf 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 former LSWR line to Plymouth Meldon Viaduct Meldon Viaduct station formerly Meldon Quarry track in place; out of use Okehampton Dartmoor Line

The station had been proposed for closure in the Beeching Report. The station sat inconveniently between the settlements of Bridgerule in Devon and Whitstone in Cornwall.

History

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 1883 (46 & 47 Vict. 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. 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 Railway (Abandonment) Act 1892 (55 & 56 Vict. 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 South Western Railway Act 1895 (58 & 59 Vict. c. cxliv) 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 goods shed. The station had a ticket office and waiting room with a simple shelter on the second platform.^[3]

The station was unaltered from the day it was built and in 1964 still had its LSWR enamel nameplate.^[4]

The distance was 5 miles 8 chains (8.2 km) between Holsworthy and Whitstone and Bridgerule, for which passenger trains were allowed 8 minutes.^[5]

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.^[6] Bude had a local shuttle service to and from Okehampton for the final months of its existence.^[6]

The station today

The station itself is in private hands but still standing in an average state.

Incidents

On 7 September 1950 a tractor and trailer were struck at 5.29pm by a passenger train at the Hopworthy Farm level crossing between Holsworthy and Whitstone and Bridgerule, resulting in three dead from the trailer and the tractor driver thrown over a hedge and suffering only minor injuries. The dead were the mother, father, and sister of the driver. The driver mistakenly believed that this train had already gone past and the inquiry advised that the crossing be closed. No one on the train was injured.^[5]

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