Editing Bideford (section)

===Railway===
The nearest railway station is at [[Barnstaple]] {{convert|7+1/2|mi|km}} away. Bideford was previously connected to the national rail network, but the connection was lost in 1982 (by then a freight branch, which was still operating due to the mining of ball clay traffic from Meeth Quarry) with the closure of the line from Barnstaple to Torrington and Meeth Quarry. Passenger services were closed in 1965 following the publication of the [[Beeching Report]]. The station still exists at East-the-Water and is now managed by a preservation group, the [[Bideford Railway Heritage Centre]]. The line followed the contours of the River Torridge for much of its route to Torrington and most of it is part of the Tarka Trail.

In 2009, ''[[James May's Toy Stories]]'' attempted to run [[OO gauge]] trains on a temporary track on the right of way. A subsequent attempt in 2011 was successful.

In 2009 the [[Association of Train Operating Companies]] costed reopening the Barnstaple to Bideford route at £80 million. But in 2010 Devon County Council rejected proposals by [[Torridge District Council]] to consider reopening.

====Bideford, Westward Ho! and Appledore Railway====
The [[Bideford, Westward Ho! and Appledore Railway]] was an unusual and short-lived railway built entirely on this peninsula with no direct connection to the rest of the British railway network. The locomotives were fitted with skirts to protect pedestrians, as at one point the line ran along the quay at Bideford. The line had eleven halts which largely served visitors wishing to enjoy the scenery along the coast or the beaches around Westward Ho!. The railway, although authorised in 1896, was opened only as far as Northam by 1901, and finally reached Appledore in 1908.

The railway fell into financial difficulties and in the [[First World War]], the [[War Department (UK)|War Department]] requisitioned all of its equipment for use in France. Bideford's 13th-century Long Bridge was temporarily converted into a railway bridge to carry the locomotives and rolling stock onto the main line railway near Bideford Station.<ref name="stuckey">Stuckey, Douglas, (1962) ''The Bideford, Westward Ho! and Appledore Railway 1901–1917'', West Country Publications.</ref>
[[File:Bideford long bridge pan 1200.jpg|thumb|centre|A view of Bideford long bridge.|522x522px]]