Regular freight operations have recommenced on a district branch line left virtually abandoned for more than a decade.

On Wednesday a train carrying 600 tonnes of logs from the region's forests departed Teign Bridge on the Heathfield Line for Kronospan, a major chipboard manufacturer in Chirk, North Wales.

It was the first of what will be a weekly service in a three-year deal between the firm and Colas Rail Freight.

Simon Ball, Colas' head of freight, said: 'The branch has not seen a train for many years and needed to be capable of taking freight trains again.

'We arranged for it to be checked, cleared and then prepared for service with road access. The vegetation in the old goods yard was cut back and, after levelling, firm standing was created by rolling into the ground hundreds of tonnes of material.'

Network Rail has welcomed the development saying it would take hundreds of lorries off the roads.

Patrick Hallgate, the firm's route for the western region, said: 'Without the railway, the anticipated growth in freight traffic over the next 30 years would mean an extra 1.5million lorry journeys on Britain's roads each year.

'Each freight train can take around 60 lorries off the roads and by shifting traffic from already congested roads to rail will bring greater future benefits.'