Alighting at Yeoford today, it’s hard to conceive that “Yeoford Junction” was once a railway station of some significance, whose booking office even as late as 1928 was still issuing close to 13,000 tickets a year. Built a stone’s throw from the confluence of the rivers Troney and Yeo, the latter stream passes directly beneath the platforms.
In earlier times the station featured, across from the existing platform, a central island platform with a refreshments room catering to the needs of passengers transferring between the North Devon line and the track which still provides access to Okehampton’s Meldon Quarry and which, until 50 years ago, extended to Tavistock, Plymouth, and the remote villages of west Devon and north Cornwall. (The actual point at which these tracks diverge lies a mile further down the line by the hamlet of Penstone, once the location of the “Coleford Junction” signal box.)
Evidence of steps leading up to the road bridge from Yeoford’s platforms can still
be seen on the east side of the bridge parapet. Cattle pens, numerous sidings and
a five-
Today the little hamlet retains its isolated feel. The post office recently closed, but there is a pub (www.mareandfoal.co.uk) close to the station which is included in the Tarka Line Rail Ale Trail, and enterprising locals have set up a free lending library in the shed that serves as a passenger shelter on the platform still in use. Try and leave a book, whenever you borrow one! There is no parking space at the station. The best location to leave a car is to drive across the railway bridge to the side furthest from the pub, and immediately take the right road fork (SP Hittersleigh). There are several parking spaces 50 yards along on the right hand side.