Today 6 years ago, OkeRail put on a special train to London. The purpose was to raise awareness of the campaign to reconnect Okehampton to Exeter. The idea of running the special was a really good one, and would put our story on the national stage, but more about that later.

GWR were approached and they agreed to provide a 125 HST for us. We were going to use one of the railtourer organisations, but there was some doubt on their side if we could sell 500 tickets. As a result we decided to do it ourselves and we used Ticket Source. This enabled us to set up our own seating plan and apply our own fares. We sold all 500 tickets in 6 days!

The day’s weather was very poor, however there was a real buzz as people waited for the train. Members of OkeRail had been interviewed by a variety of the local press, as there was a lot of interest. Our main message was the special train proved the catchment area was wider than just the immediate Okehampton area. Passengers came from Cornwall, North Devon, South Devon, Plymouth and Exeter. It also showed, that if there was a service, people would come!

We set off a bit late, but it became clear that things weren’t going to plan. Unfortunately the owners of the line at the time, a US company, hadn’t maintained the line particularly well and the HST slid on the rails causing a flat spot. We manage to limp to Exeter, but it would be unable to continue to London. This is where GWR came to the rescue, they took a service off, and gave us the HST set. This meant everyone had to change over at Exeter. There were some issues initially, because the configuration was slightly different, but we sorted it out and no one complained.

We were inundated by the press who were asking about what went wrong. One paper asked if anyone had been hurt, because they heard that the train had slid down a bank. They didn’t realise it was on the rails and not off the rails! However it gave us some national exposure, as they say publicity is always an opportunity!

We were running almost an hour late, however we were given a clear path and by the time we arrived in Paddington, we were only 20 minutes late. It was a fantastic sight to see all the folk from the South West pouring out of the train. People went to do shopping and sightseeing. However, we had an important meeting. A number of us met with Paul Maynard, thanks to our MP Mel Stride, and we were able to put our case of why the line should be reinstated.

The trip was a tremendous success, and was a significant moment in our campaign. If you went, what are your memories? Let us know below.