Okehampton station has won another award, scooping the Community Award at the National Railway Heritage Awards in a ceremony held in the City of London last Wednesday (December 6).

The award was for the heritage restoration of the main station building which was part of the overall Dartmoor Line reopening work.

Present in London to accept the award were Sue and Tom Baxter, Chairman and Secretary of the Dartmoor Railway Association, Richard Burningham, Manager of the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership and Paul Bryant of Parc Signs. They were joined by two senior railway managers who both played key roles in the reopening project, Matt Barnes of GWR and Christian Irwin of Network Rail.

Richard Burningham said “I am absolutely delighted that our project at Okehampton has won this award. What we have achieved has been a great team effort. Thanks in particular to GWR for making the heritage work possible and the Dartmoor Railway Association for their role in the project and all they have done and continue to do at the station. I am very proud of what we have jointly achieved at the station and proud that we have built on what was done back in 1997 to fine effect.”

Sue Baxter said “The heritage areas of the station have been restored to a marvellous standard and I am really pleased that our project has won this prestigious award. It was a privilege to work with so many organisations to keep and then restore the 1950’s feel of the station which was so beautifully achieved first under Devon County Council ownership for the first reopening in 1997.”

The heritage restoration work included new period Southern Railway design signage, the heritage booking office and booking hall which have been restored to the look of the late 1950s/early 1960s and the heritage waiting room which has been fitted out with Southern Railway design furniture.

Devon County Council bought the station in the mid 1990s and worked with the late Roy Gibbs and others to fully restore it. The whole operational side of the station was sold to Network Rail last year.

The 1990’s restoration had seen heritage signage and the period feel of the station developed and there was a common wish that the heritage of the station should be retained and enhanced where possible.

Network Rail restored the fabric of the station and the station canopy while GWR led the main internal works on the building. By agreement with GWR, the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership, working closely with the Dartmoor Railway Association and Dartmoor National Park, led the work on the signage and fitting out most of the rooms in the main building. Funding for the signage and fitting out these rooms was obtained from GWR’s Community Rail Major Project Fund, the Railway Heritage Trust and the Community Rail Development Fund, a joint initiative of the Department of Transport and the Community Rail Network.

Okehampton Station itself was recently awarded “Small Station of the Year” at the National Rail Awards and the reopening project have won several awards which are on display in a cabinet at the station.