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Bideford and Instow stations were situated on the Bideford Extension Railway from Fremington, in North Devon, Bideford station being an inconvenient distance from the town, and on the wrong side of the River Torridge. The Taw Vale Railway opened in 1848 from Barnstaple to Fremington Wharf for horse-drawn coal and other goods traffic and was opened to passenger trains when the Extension Railway reached Bideford by way of Instow in 1855.
The Taw Vale line, the first railway in North Devon, was initially separated, by a 31 mile gap, from the main line which, at that time, was no nearer than Crediton. As this main line was built to the broad gauge, then the Taw Vale Railway and the North Devon Railway extension from Barnstaple to Crediton were forced to follow suit. Widening of the Barnstaple-Fremington line commenced in May 1854, shortly before the opening on 28 July of the new line from Crediton, the first Bristol & Exeter engine having traversed the line from Crediton to Barnstaple on 28 June. Whilst the line to Bideford was being completed the railway ran a coach service from Barnstaple to Instow and Bideford. The L&SWR arrived in Exeter in 1860 and Crediton on 1 February 1862, then leased the Bideford Extension Railway from 1 August 1862, absorbing it into the L&SWR on 1 January 1865. A third rail was laid to Bideford by March 1863 enabling narrow gauge trains to run through from Exeter, with some local trains still formed of broad gauge stock until the broad gauge was taken out of use in 1877.
A new, more convenient (though still the on wrong side of the river) station was opened at Bideford in 1872 when the extension to Torrington was opened.
With the railway map for this part of the world now set, Bideford settled down to a regular traffic throughout L&SWR and Southern Railway days and on into national ownership under British Railways. One noteable event was when the Bulleid West Country Pacific 21C119 visited the town in 1946 to be named "Bideford".
Whilst under the control of the various Southern entities, Fremington Quay had been an important port for the shipping out of China Clay and in of coal from South Wales for the railway's own use. When the Southern Region lines were transferred to the Western Region the coal traffic was soon stopped as they had their own route from South Wales, by rail through the Severn Tunnel. The "Beeching Closures" took a heavy toll in North Devon resulting in the abolition of the passenger service in 1965. Goods trains soldiered on with milk from Torrington and the dwindling China Clay traffic until, in 1982, the line was closed. An attempt to set up a preserved railway followed, but it failed and the rails were lifted in 1985. The trackbed was purchased by Devon County Council, thereby keeping the line relatively safe from developers' plans, and turned into the "Tarka Trail" for walkers and riders.
The first track was laid in January 1846 from Fremington to Barnstaple. North Devon's first railway was a goods line operated by horses and was 30 miles away from the "main line" railhead at Crediton. An extension to Umberleigh had started but due to lack of capital the track work was unfinished.