New life will next week be breathed into a district branch line that has lain virtually abandoned for a decade.

From Wednesday 600 tonnes of timber will each week be dispatched from Teign Bridge to north Wales via the Heathfield line, the last fragment of a track which once ran to Moretonhampstead.

Colas Rail has won a contract to transport timber from the region's plantations to Kronospan, claimed to be the world's largest producer of laminate flooring and wood panels.

The deal will mean the arrival of 24 lorries each week from across Devon and Cornwall and the departure of a single train comprising of 14 wagons.

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