Greenway Halt

[Jan Mayen]

Is Greenway Halt, on the Dartmouth Railway, ever likely to be opened to passengers again?

 

[Ashley Hill]

Is Greenway Halt, on the Dartmouth Railway, ever likely to be opened to passengers again?

That station doesn’t even appear to get a mention on the lines website. Trains are still not stopping at Goodrington Sands or Churston either.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Possibly Greenway Halt hasn't actually been used in last five years? Is that understanding correct? We certainly had a discussion on here about intermediate stops, on the Dartmouth Steam Railway, no longer being served, back in 2022.

Dartmouth Steam Railway trains "not calling at intermediate stations this year".

While non-stop runs were an understandable response by heritage railways to the Covid crisis, with its requirement to have allocated seats, they have mostly reverted to their normal operating pattern. But the Dartmouth line will apparently not be calling at Goodrington, Churston or Greenway Halt...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[stadler]

It is rather ridiculous that it is five years since covid and yet Churston and Greenway Halt and Goodrington Sands are all still closed. What is their excuse now. I think they must be the only heritage railway to have suspended stations.

 

[Jan Mayen]

I'd forgotten the old thread. Isn't there a station on the Seven Valley that's no longer served?
Even The Bluebell has closed a couple of halts. Sadly.

 

[duffield]

It is rather ridiculous that it is five years since covid and yet Churston and Greenway Halt and Goodrington Sands are all still closed. What is their excuse now. I think they must be the only heritage railway to have suspended stations.

It's only a fairly short line; a couple of stops makes it seem more interesting, longer and better value (to me anyhow!). Also I would have thought there was at least some demand for passengers from Paignton to get off and go to the beach at Goodrington on the way back from Kingswear/Dartmouth.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Jun 2025 ==

I'd forgotten the old thread. Isn't there a station on the Seven Valley that's no longer served?
Even The Bluebell has closed a couple of halts. Sadly.

But it's one thing to close the odd barely used halt, and another thing altogether to close *all* your intermediate stations!

 

[Ashley Hill]

Goodrington used to be quite busy, it is bizarre that it has never reopened. Churston doesn’t have much to offer other than the Railway Inn (waits to be berated by the locals), but on two train services trains must still stop there to cross so why not advertise it as a stop. Perhaps even a viewing area in the workshops? Perhaps the end to end traffic and Round Robin via the ferry to Totnes and bus are all they are interested in if that’s where the money is.

 

[308165]

Goodrington used to be quite busy, it is bizarre that it has never reopened. Churston doesn’t have much to offer other than the Railway Inn (waits to be berated by the locals), but on two train services trains must still stop there to cross so why not advertise it as a stop. Perhaps even a viewing area in the workshops? Perhaps the end to end traffic and Round Robin via the ferry to Totnes and bus are all they are interested in if that’s where the money is.

Churston is very handy as a way of accessing the railway if you are staying in the Brixham area (which I am currently). We used it pre COVID and would have used it again this week had it been open.

I think without the calls they can run a train every 45 minutes with two sets.

 

[brad465]

Greenway Halt probably had the lowest patronage of all the stops on the line when all were served, given it was mainly a request stop. If Network Rail ever did an Okehampton to the route I doubt they'd have a station there, the only intermediate that might become national rail is Churston, given the nearby population and passing loop facility.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Greenway Halt probably had the lowest patronage of all the stops on the line when all were served, given it was mainly a request stop. If

Perhaps it was only built to try and capitalise on the Agatha Christie connection as a convenient way to get to her house. Clearly that didn’t work out.

Churston is very handy as a way of accessing the railway if you are staying in the Brixham area (which I am currently). We used it pre COVID and would have used it again this week had it been open.

I think without the calls they can run a train every 45 minutes with two sets.

I do think the railway are losing out with not stopping at Churston.

 

[Ralph Ayres]

Perhaps it was only built to try and capitalise on the Agatha Christie connection as a convenient way to get to her house. Clearly that didn’t work out.

...and I used it as such some years back when staying in Dartmouth. Seemed an obvious thing to do (and I think was marketed as a suggested destination by the railway) but it seems I was a rarity.

 

[158760]

I'd forgotten the old thread. Isn't there a station on the Seven Valley that's no longer served?
Even The Bluebell has closed a couple of halts. Sadly.

The Bluebell halts were mostly a relic from a time when the railway only ran 4 1/2 miles between Sheffield Park and Horsted Keynes (or in the case of Bluebell Halt not even as far as Horsted).

Bluebell Halt opened with the railway in 1960, around a quarter of a mile south of Horsted at New Road Bridge. It was made obsolete with the opening of Horsted to Bluebell trains in late 1961, but stayed open until 1972 when it was demolished.

Freshfield Halt opened with the railway in 1960 at Monteswood Lane Bridge. It was never really popular, as the station was only really intended for walkers and they weren’t the majority of the people using the railway. It closed with the start of the Northern Extension to Kingscote in 1988.

Holywell Halt opened in 1962 (ironically opened by Dr Beeching) at Waterworks (Keysford Lane) Bridge. A year or two after opening it was deemed too unsafe by the local authorities and closed in 1964. It was never heavily used, the only thing nearby being the Waterworks and Horsted Keynes village nearly a mile up the narrow road.

The newest of the four was Ketches Halt, next to Blown Up Bridge about half a mile north of Sheffield Park station. It opened in 1990 in connection with the nearby Ketches Animal Farm. It was the only public access to the farm, and aimed to combine the animals and a steam train ride. It closed in 2006, but was not demolished until 2021.

It is worth remembering all four of these halts were underused (with the exception of Bluebell Halt, which was only underused from late 1961) and extended section times by around 5 minutes in total, which means your trains will run less frequently. Most of the halts were from a time when the railway needed money, and desperately.

I guess the same could be applied to Greenway Halt (although I do have little understanding of the DSR, please correct me if I am wrong), with the model they have adopted now it doesn’t fit in. If it was underused pre COVID, it will be even less used now. Cost will always outweigh revenue at these stations.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

It is about 3/4 mile walk to Agatha Christie's house from the Halt so less than ideal, and an awkward stop for up trains on the rising gradient.

Being controversial, I'd 'nationalise' the line and make it part of the 'Devon Metro' - traffic congestion in the Torbay area is ridiculous all year round. I don't think it offers much to the preservation movement either. I'd have stations at Goodrington, Churston (Brixham Parkway?) and Kingswear and possibly Broadsands (which briefly had a halt in the '20s).

 

[AndrewE]

As the Dartmouth Steam Railway is a straightforward commercial operation I wonder whether bringing the platforms at the intermediate stations up to an acceptable standard is not justifiable for them?

 

[Ashley Hill]

I don't think it offers much to the preservation movement either.

TBH enthusiasts are not the intended market. Its purely a commercial tourist attraction and does what it does very well.
It would be nice if they did bring back their diesel galas though.

 

[ExRes]

I do think the railway are losing out with not stopping at Churston.

When we lived in Brixham we used Churston regularly, I have to say that the railway would certainly have lost my custom as driving to Paignton is just too stupid for words, as for not stopping at Goodrington, my mind boggles recalling the number of people we used to see getting on and off there

 

[AndrewE]

When we lived in Brixham we used Churston regularly, I have to say that the railway would certainly have lost my custom as driving to Paignton is just too stupid for words, as for not stopping at Goodrington, my mind boggles recalling the number of people we used to see getting on and off there

but maybe they are very aware of the "rush-hour" conundrum: you can run trains which are packed for a short distance at very limited times of the day, whereas you have to buy/procure, maintain and store those trains all the rest of the 24/7 when the capacity is not needed

 

[MarkyT]

For visiting Greenway House, the railway now recommends passengers travel to Kingswear, cross the river, and get the Dittisham/Greenway ferry from Dartmouth to the attraction's own quay on the river. It's a steep ~300m walk up the hill from there, but it was a much longer 1.2km walk from the halt. At least from the quay, visitors who need it can use the internal golf cart shuttle service, which runs entirely on private estate roads. While that also serves the small advance-booked car park at the entrance lodge coming in from the Churston direction, it could never go the extra distance to the railway halt as the vehicle isn't approved for the public highway. When the DSR served Greenway, they only called in the down direction (from London and also downhill) so trains wouldn't have to struggle against the steep gradient to get started in the up direction.

Goodrington used to be quite busy, it is bizarre that it has never reopened. Churston doesn’t have much to offer other than the Railway Inn (waits to be berated by the locals), but on two train services trains must still stop there to cross so why not advertise it as a stop. Perhaps even a viewing area in the workshops? Perhaps the end to end traffic and Round Robin via the ferry to Totnes and bus are all they are interested in if that’s where the money is.

Before COVID, the railway planned to create an accessible gently graded walkway from the beach side car park to their main platform at Goodrington, avoiding the steps down from Tanners Road overbridge at the current entrance. Paignton station is now less convenient for car parking nearby, so having a second station with the potential for much more dedicated visitor parking on the west side seems a sensible idea.

In a typical passing move at Churston, the first train into the loop has to stop while the other glides slowly by non-stop. There's no token exchange anymore with colour light TCB signalling. Depending on realtime running conditions, it might be either train that actually arrives first so difficult to schedule stops without adding running time. From a public transport perspective, there's the frequent Stagecoach SW #12 Newton Abbot-Brixham route stopping immediately outside the station entrance, and the Paignton-Kingswear bus.

Edit: Thinking some more, the lack of a booked stop, even if working timings overall haven't directly improved as a result, offers some recovery margin for a slightly late-running second train at Churston. Not stopping ensures it gets to its terminus a little quicker, catching up a couple of minutes in hand for the runround move, increasing likelihood of an on time departure on a tight diagram bearing in mind the ever-present risk of difficulties while shunting from ground frame and other point operations, re-establishing brake connections etc. A little extra margin for solving problems is useful and can avoid minor issues causing knock on delay for a number of subsequent trains. During single train operation it doesn't have to physically stop in either direction at Churston.

 

[nanstallon]

I have wondered whether the closure formalities necessary for closure of stations on the national network apply to such lines as the Dartmouth Steam Railway? Presumably not; otherwise there would be a 'parliamentary' service of one train a week stopping at Goodrington Sands, Churston and Greenway Halt. I always found Churston very useful, with easy parking and a handy pub close by.

 

[mjc]

It is about 3/4 mile walk to Agatha Christie's house from the Halt so less than ideal, and an awkward stop for up trains on the rising gradient.

Being controversial, I'd 'nationalise' the line and make it part of the 'Devon Metro' - traffic congestion in the Torbay area is ridiculous all year round. I don't think it offers much to the preservation movement either. I'd have stations at Goodrington, Churston (Brixham Parkway?) and Kingswear and possibly Broadsands (which briefly had a halt in the '20s).

Given how high the viaduct looms over the beach at Broadsands I imagine you’d need to be made of strong stuff to get down and back up again to the halt, but still love the idea having spent many weeks of my childhood on that stretch of sand!

 

[SwindonManor]

I have wondered whether the closure formalities necessary for closure of stations on the national network apply to such lines as the Dartmouth Steam Railway? Presumably not; otherwise there would be a 'parliamentary' service of one train a week stopping at Goodrington Sands, Churston and Greenway Halt. I always found Churston very useful, with easy parking and a handy pub close by.

Always reckon they should've done a limited service. They don't serve the stops as they can run more services, there's your answer. However they've also said they won't rule out reopening. New signage has popped up at the end of the southbound platform at Churston I believe saying don't trespass - so why add new things to a dead station? Churston could drive the hotel user/s in the radius and bus passengers from Brixham to get a train. Goodrington can be a limited stop with it being so close to Queens Park. Greenway, was a new build halt and wasn't even used alot - so reopening it would be impractical.

TBH enthusiasts are not the intended market. Its purely a commercial tourist attraction and does what it does very well.
It would be nice if they did bring back their diesel galas though.

I do wish another gala happens. Their last was the 150th anniversary of opening. They've missed their 160th. Maybe either another diesel gala or a 165 year gala in 2029.