Devon’s Railways

Local historian and award winning author Helen Harris traces the triumphs and failures of Devon’s pioneering railway companies, which created a truly impressive transport network.

Beginning in the early 19th century with tramways for local industries, railways developed rapidly from the 1840s onwards.  They reached a peak of success at the turn of the 20th century, when lines etched their way across the whole of the county and gleaming steam trains billowing clouds of blue-grey smoke would have been a common sight.

The during the 1920s and 30s motorcar use began to grow at an alarming rate and the fate of the glorious but increasingly antiquated travel system was sealed. 48 pages, archive photographs.