Tamar Valley Line
The GWR timetable change – what does it mean for you?
This Sunday (15 Dec 2019) sees the biggest timetable change on the Great Western Railway network since 1976. Journey times will change, with more frequent trains and more seats.
Find out what it means for you with our quick summary below. Read more
A trio of Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership projects in South East Cornwall have been recognised at the national Community Rail Awards.
The Looe Valley Line Heritage Project which celebrates the history of the Liskeard to Looe branch line won two awards. Read more
CASE STUDY | The Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership worked with the local community to replace damaged and decrepit tiles at Gunnislake with creative and durable new works of art.
New for 2019, have a summer Sunday day out on Dartmoor thanks to a new bus connecting with trains.
Every Sunday until 8 September, the bus will run between Okehampton station and Lydford, Lydford Gorge, Brentor, Tavistock and Gunnislake station.
It will link in with some Exeter–Okehampton and Gunnislake–Plymouth trains and pass the main entrance to Lydford Gorge.
Take the Great Round Trip
Buy a Devon Day Ranger and a £3 bus ticket to go for a great Devon round trip between Exeter and Plymouth. Read more
Promotional hoardings highlighting Cornwall’s branch line destinations have gone up around Saltash station building as the latest step towards the building’s eagerly awaited revamp.
The 33-metre boards promote beauty spots including Calstock, Looe and St Ives as well as the redevelopment of the station building.
The building was bought by Saltash Town Council in 2017. Read more
Children will soon be able to travel for free on Tamar Valley Line trains as part of celebrations to mark 50 years of regular direct rail services between Gunnislake and Plymouth.
On Sunday 3rd June 2018, there will be an Open Day at the Tamar Belle at Bere Ferrers station. Read more
Residents in the Gunnislake, Calstock and Bere Peninsula areas are being asked to take part in a transport survey to help with a new study looking at the value of the Tamar Valley Line to the community.
Take the survey
All aspects of the line’s value are being investigated including the access it provides local people to employment, education and shopping in Plymouth, connectivity with the rest of the country and its role in helping tourists visit the Tamar Valley AONB. Read more
In response to the growing importance of video marketing, the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership has produced a series of short films to showcase the South West’s scenic branch lines.
The videos – all under 90 seconds long – have been promoted through targeted Facebook advertising, reaching hundreds of thousands of people and garnering an extremely positive response. Read more
CASE STUDY | The Carbon Reduction Challenge was an inter-schools competition to encourage local schools to swap car journeys for train journeys to reduce their carbon footprint.
Great Western Railway will be introducing a new, later Sunday train for the Summer on the Plymouth – Gunnislake Tamar Valley Line on Sunday 21 May 2017.
The train will leave Plymouth at 20 01, arriving at Gunnislake at 20 47. Read more
Dog owners in Plymouth are being invited to explore the National Trust estate at Cotehele by catching one of two “Calstock Rover” trains from Plymouth to Calstock this Sunday, 19 March.
The Calstock Rover will be part of the regular Tamar Valley Line service leaving Plymouth station at 09 20 and 11 06 on Sunday morning. Read more
The Partnership has completed a four-month Facebook advertising campaign to raise the profile of the branch lines and inspire people to take day trips by train.
Concluding last week, it reached more than 390,000 people and helped to double traffic to our Great Scenic Railways website. Read more
The Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership was recognised in multiple categories at the annual Community Rail Awards held in Southport on 29th September 2016, and helped Great Western Railway to win the prestigious overall award.
Organised by the Association of Community Rail Partnerships (ACoRP), the event saw the Partnership’s ‘Song for the Tamar Valley Line’ project win first place in the Community Art Schemes (Renewable and smaller projects) category. Read more
The Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership has helped children from Drake Primary School to improve their local station with artwork inspired by the Tamar Valley Line.
The pupils were taught how to sketch by professional illustrator Lucy Pulleyblank, and then took a trip on the train to picturesque Calstock and put their new skills to work. Read more
The Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership has had six entries shortlisted for 2016’s national Community Rail Awards. The nominations are:
A song for the Tamar Valley Line
(Community Art Schemes – renewable and smaller projects)
Linking two schools at either end of the beautiful Tamar Valley Line, this project aimed to broaden the horizons of the children involved by getting them out of the classroom and on to the train to create a song which captured the essence of the line and inspire the local population to visit too. Read more
Inspired by a trip on the beautiful Tamar Valley Line, children from Calstock Primary School and College Road Primary School in Keyham have created a song all about what you can see from the train window.
They launched the song at Plymouth station using a booth where passengers could listen to the song – and even get creative themselves by making ‘edible poems’.
Working with Mousehole performance poet Sally Crabtree, the Keyham children travelled the Tamar Valley Line to Calstock where they met up with their Calstock peers to do some writing workshops and begin composing the song inspired by the Tamar Valley Line. Read more
Our ‘Take your teddy on the train’ promotion returns this half-term, giving accompanied children free travel on the Tamar Valley, Looe Valley and Maritime lines if they bring a teddy with them.
The concept was trialled in 2015 to great success, with busy trains packed with families. Read more
The Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership – on behalf of Cornwall Council – is carrying out a survey to ask Gunnislake and Calstock rail users their views on the preferred option for their future train service when Tavistock rejoins the rail network. Read more
CASE STUDY | With widespread pub closures an issue of national concern, the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership supports nearly a hundred real ale pubs through our Rail Ale Trail scheme.
CASE STUDY | Great Scenic Railways is the Partnership’s tourism-focused website, promoting the branch lines to more than 75,000 tourists and local day trippers each year.