Railway and local history enthusiasts can get hold of signed editions of a specially reprinted book on the Newton Abbot to Moretonhampstead line, at Buckfastleigh Station tomorrow, June 22.

Co-author Mike Lang will be at the station from 11.30am to 1pm signing copies of ‘The Newton Abbot to Moretonhampstead Railway’. Anthony Kingdom has also pre-signed a number of the books.

The book, first published in 2004, has been reprinted to mark 60 years since the closure of the passenger service on the branch line railway to Moretonhampstead in 1959.

This reprint coincides with a special commemorative display of railway memorabilia, set up by the Bovey Tracey Heritage Trust in their museum located in the former Bovey Station building.

A spokesman for South Devon Railway said: ‘It seems fitting to mark the end of passenger services in 1959 on the Moretonhampstead line during the SDR’s 50th anniversary year, hence the book singing at Buckfastleigh this Saturday.’

The Newton Abbot to Moretonhampstead Railway is the result of extensive research carried out over a number of years by well-known local railway historian Anthony R Kingdom and publisher Mike Lang.

Mike has been the railway researcher and is now the treasurer for the Bovey Tracey Heritage Trust.

The SDR spokesman added: ‘The book will not only appeal to railway enthusiasts, but also to local historians, those who knew and loved the line, and the many people who are now able to enjoy an attractive walk along parts of its former route.’

The book begins with the authors taking the reader on an imaginary journey along the line as it was in the mid-1950s and describing every aspect of the route.

The opening chapter is rounded off with a complete mapping of the line showing its exact location and some of the beautiful countryside through which it passed.

The spokesman said: ‘In the chapter that follows, much of it based on painstaking research, the authors provide a comprehensive, but highly readable, account of the line’s history covering the many difficulties experienced by the promoters before it was opened in 1866 and the many phases of its life.

‘The remaining length between Newton Abbot and Heathfield used for goods traffic after closure is now mothballed by Network Rail.’

Other chapters cover timetables and branch line working; goods traffic; engineering and operating data; memories; and the line today.

The book contains more than 200 archival and contemporary photographs.