The station at Ivybridge was opened on 15th June 1848. The building was situated on the north side of the track, immediately to the west of Ivybridge Viaduct.
The main station building was a chalet-style structure with round-headed windows and an overhanging roof. Access to the platforms was along aptly named Station Road or via steeply inclined steps located close to the viaduct. From the platform, travellers enjoyed an almost panoramic view of Ivybridge.
Rail travel was affordable for everyone and was a popular means of travel with first, second and third class carriages. In 1844 the Railway Regulation Act stipulated that passengers in third class must be sheltered from the elements and be provided with seats.
Apart from the normal passenger trains a number of more unusual trains passed through Ivybridge. On the morning of 9th May 1904 the ‘City of Truro’ became the first steam locomotive to exceed 100 mph. At random intervals Ivybridge was also visited by trains known as ‘farm specials’ – effectively farms on the move – with livestock, fodder, machinery, working horses, the farmer and his family and the farm hands all moving from one part of the country to another, following the farm sales. Regular stops for milking, feeding, watering and mucking out were all planned. Other special trains called at Ivybridge to pick up supplies of the specialist paper produced at Stowford Mill.
After World War II, with the rail network in a severely poor state of repair, it was nationalised as British Railways. The line at Ivybridge was handed over to British Railways (Western Region) at midnight on New Year’s Eve 1947. Britain was entering a phase of economic recovery and with petrol rationing at an end, car ownership began to grow rapidly, in stark contrast to the deteriorating viability of the railways. To address the problem British Railways embarked upon a ‘Modernisation Plan’ aimed at improving capacity, reliability and safety and make services more attractive to passengers and freight operators. Measures included electrification of main lines, replacement of steam locomotives by modern diesel alternatives, new passenger and freight rolling stock and the closure of several lines. By the end of the decade British Railways announced the closure of passenger services at several local stations including Plympton, Cornwood, Ivybridge, Bittaford and Wrangaton. On 2 March 1959 all passenger services at Ivybridge ceased and the railway station was demolished during the next decade.
The original goods shed at Ivybridge Railway Station was replaced on 1 October 1911 by a new facility further west accessed via Langham Levels. The red brick goods shed was accompanied by cattle loading pens and coal wharves. It was very busy place regularly receiving and despatching goods. It became the distribution centre for heavy goods and parcels of the postal service, serving the southern parts of the South Hams.
With the railway network continuing to deteriorate, a new radical solution was urgently required. In 1963, Richard Beeching, Chairman of the British Railways Board produced a report entitled ‘The Reshaping of British Railways’, commonly referred to as ‘The Beeching Report’. This identified uneconomic routes and recommended widespread closure of railway stations across Britain as well as the scrapping of goods wagons. On 29 November 1965 the goods yard at Ivybridge was unable to avoid the ‘Beeching Axe’ and was closed for good, with local man Tom Pettifer locking up for the very last time. It did however continue as a china clay distribution point receiving locally sourced china clay from Lee Moor by road transport.
