Meldon Quarry railway station

Meldon Quarry
The cycle track over the viaduct and station site
Location
Place	Meldon
Area	West Devon
Grid reference	SX566926
Operations
Managed by	Dartmoor Railway
Platforms	1
History
circa 1920	Opened
1968	Closed by British Rail
2000	New station opened by the Dartmoor Railway
2008	Dartmoor Railway services temporarily withdrawn during change of ownership
2009	Dartmoor Railway services reintroduced
Stations on heritage railways in the United Kingdom
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Meldon Quarry railway station is a railway station at Meldon in Devon. It has recently been renamed Meldon Viaduct.

The station was originally constructed circa 1920 as Meldon Quarry Halt by the London and South Western Railway. This station had no public access and merely functioned as a staff halt for quarry workers, their families and other railway staff working at Meldon Quarry. The quarry originally had no metalled road access and some quarry workers and their families lived in cottages situated near the quarry. They used the halt for access to Okehampton. The halt was not shown in the public railway timetable and local passenger services would only call by special arrangement. A workmens' service from Okehampton also operated using a passenger coach attached to one of the ballast trains. The platforms of the halt were constructed using standard components manufactured at the Railway's own Concrete Works at Exmouth Junction. The platforms were very narrow and short, about the length of a single passenger coach. They were situated at the immediate east end of Meldon Viaduct, between the viaduct and Meldon Quarry signal box.

The Beeching Report in 1963 recommended that the Exeter to Plymouth Line be cut back to Okehampton; and when services ceased between there and Bere Alston in 1968, the Halt became disused. Some time later both platforms were demolished during modifications to the rail layout and access at the western end of Meldon Quarry.

Bow, North Tawton, Sampford Courtenay and Okehampton lost their passenger services from 1972. But freight traffic continued on the line thanks to the activities of the British Rail ballast quarry at Meldon, three miles from Okehampton, which had an output of 300,000 tons per year. The quarry and railway are now owned by Aggregate Industries. The quarry is currently out of use and ''.