Notes: Terminus of a branch line from Totnes. The 7 miles of the railway now known as the South Devon Railway originally ran from Ashburton to Totnes a distance of some 9 miles. It was engineered by the builder of the Great Western Railway, Isambard Kingdom Brunel and built to his Broad Gauge (7ft 0¼ inch) specification. Due to financial difficulties the original South Devon Railway was subsequently taken over by the Great Western Railway in 1876. The line being converted to Standard Gauge (4ft 8½ inches) along with the rest of the Great Western Railway network, over one weekend in 1892.

The line's history is a quiet one; the Ashburton branch, along with many other rural branch lines, never made a profit. Goods traffic, mainly coal, wool, cider and agricultural items were the lifeblood of the line. Continuing to run through two, World Wars, nationalised in 1948, the decline came to a head on 3rd November 1958 when the last passenger train

Also in 1962 the local press had revealed that a group of businessmen were working on a plan to reopen the line. They saw the running of a steam operated branch line, in the GWR style, in a popular tourist area, as a potentially profitable enterprise and so the Dart Valley Railway Ltd was born. On the 2nd October the first rolling stock arrived but the first passenger trains did not run until 5th April 1969 due to difficulties in obtaining a Light Railway Order from the then Ministry of Transport. The last 2 miles of the line to Ashburton were severed some years later at the time of the improvements to the A38 trunk road which incorporated part of the line between Buckfastleigh and Ashburton. In recent times a survey has been conducted on the feasibility of rebuilding the line into Ashburton