The North Cornwall Railway

HALWILL since closure

The Halwill station building as it was in the mid 1980s, viewed from the front of the building. Photograph by Ron Strutt.

The platform side of the building, also photographed by Ron Strutt.

The inside of Halwill's Booking Office, seen here as photographed by Ron Strutt in the mid 1980s.

This was the brick slaughterhouse built by the Southern Railway in 1938 to replace the previous wooden one. Photographed by Ron Strutt in the mid 1980s.

Goods sheds are frequently survivors after the closure of a railway station, and Halwill's was still in good condition when photographed by Ron Strutt in the mid 1980s.

All over the country you see the late and much-maligned Dr Beeching's name commemorated in road names where once the train was king, and Halwill is no exception. The road that winds through the estate built on the station area is yet another "Beeching Close".

The site of Halwill station today has been built over and the view on the left is taken with the photographer facing south, looking towards the station area and with the route of the North Cornwall Line behind him.

The opposite view from the above showing work in progress to turn some of the disused trackbed into a foot and cycle path through a new Nature Reserve in 2004.

A similar view to the above, though taken in 2010. The boardwalk is very necessary due to swampy ground and ends where the North Cornwall line and the Bude line diverged and continues as an asphalt track towards the latter as far as Cookworthy Forest.

From the end of the boardwalk the remains of the route of the North Cornwall line may be seen curving away to the left towards Ashwater.

The information board at the beginning of the Nature Reserve. The wording reads:
Bustling railway to wildlife highway.
Halwill Junction is a place to see nature reclaiming land once borrowed by man. It was a busy railway until the 1960s but was then closed down. Since that time wildlif has made the nature reserve its home.
Click here for a larger version.

To the right of the boardwalk can be seen the remains of the NDCJR platform for trains to Hatherleigh and Torrington. This shows the northern end of the platform, the southern part of the platform is in a private garden.