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Original Text (Annotation: epw023602 / 454049)
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Where the goods train stands is now a row of houses ... the purchase of which will add at least £1m to the cost of reopening the line.... but just out of the picture to the north the local West Devon Borough Council built its offices on the route so we can hardly expect to see an planning decisions from them to protect the future route of the railway.
Why is this important? When the picturesque, but increasingly vulnerable, coast route from Exeter to Newton Abbot becomes impossible to maintain, this will be the only railway route to Plymouth and Cornwall.
There was a case for closure, if a weak one, but there was no case for fragmenting the route into privately own farmland, houses, commercial sites and council offices. Interestingly the sections of the route that carry a cost of maintenance (viaducts and tunnels) are still in public ownership, including the viaduct seen here. '