Station Stories

By Zoe Hughes (Pinhoe Community Builder)

Pinhoe station opened on 30 October 1871 and recently celebrated its 154th birthday. It may seem a strange year to celebrate, but it coincides with Railway 200, the 200th anniversary of the birth of the modern railway!

To highlight this occasion, Friends of Pinhoe Station arranged a cake cutting ceremony and invited local residents, members of the council and railway who support the group to come along. Everyone enjoyed tea and cake on a blustery afternoon, and there was enough to give out to grateful passengers.

Zoe, Pinhoe’s Community Builder, also took this opportunity to ask local residents about their memories and photos of the station. Some of these memories are below and you can now read these station stories on the red noticeboard on the south side of the line.

“I used to take my grandchildren on the train to visit the RAMM museum to see all the animals. The children loved the train. I'd love to do it even now and take them as teenagers during school holidays. The new trainline to Okehampton has also been a life changer for me to visit family.”

“My parents were childhood sweethearts who met travelling to school by train. They were both 14 years of age... Mum lived in Whimple and attended Bishop Blackhall, Dad attended Heles School. An early memory for me (when I was about 4 years old) was the fear that the carriage lights wouldn't go on before we reached the tunnel near Exeter. My nan always had her lighter at the ready!”

“From the age of 10, we used to go to school on the train, as it was more reliable than the buses. We would all pile down in the morning, and used to wait in the station master's house. When the train arrived we would walk across the line to get on, and off we went. When the boys got onto the carriage, they would take the bulbs out of the lights so that the carriage would be dark when going under the tunnel. I don’t know what they were up to, just playing around, and they always put the bulbs back in. To open the windows, you had to pull on large leather straps which were hard to close again! I always envied kids with parents who worked at the railway as they got discounted travel.”

Friends of Pinhoe Station are a group of volunteers who support the local railway. They are a station adoption group as recognised by Southwestern Railway (SWR). They aim to improve Pinhoe station itself and the rail and bus links to the station.

Get in touch with Zoe to see how you can help and join our WhatsApp group.

Phone: 07719 239551

Email: zoe.hughes@eci.org.uk 

Facebook: Zoe Hughes (Community Builder Pinhoe)