A fantastic, informative and child friendly attraction. The wonderful steam trains are frequent and even if not travelling on them you can access the museum (free), platform and tea rooms so it is worth a visit if if not taking a journey. Highly recommended
Lovely heritage railway running through stunning scenery along the banks of the River Dart.
Enjoyed it very much. Train ride, museum, cafe. Nostalgic film show. All brill! People friendly. AND free parking.
Lovely place . Friendly staff. Had a great day at the 1940s weekend.
Such knowledgeable & friendly staff & very interesting exhibits
absolutely great for the santa train kids loved it. all the staff couldn't do enough for you all great people and excellent event.
Brilliant great day out very friendly and funny staff
Lovely journey. A little expensive when buying just the train journey but still very enjoyable!
Stopped here for a break from driving, lovely cafe and shop and steam trains.
Historic railway line from Buckfastleigh via Staverton to Totnes. The stations and trains have been wonderfully restored with great attention to detail, and the staff are very friendly. There are always event weekends.
From Totnes you can get to Buckfastleigh on the edge of the Dartmoor. In order to be able to hike there properly, however, you would have to drive far into it (car). The trip is quite expensive, but the landscape is also beautiful. The old bridges and Staverton train station in the middle are particularly beautiful.
Love this place to visit, just been to the heritage open weekend. Had a great day looking around the work sheds and talking to all the hard working staff and volunteers. So knowledgeable and helpful my 13 year old son and I had a fantastic day and lovely train ride. Thank you South Devon Railway.
Loved it been back many times, remember it in the 1950's before Beaching
Great day out for the family! Lucky to get there when the workshop had an open day to look around and discover what they do to maintain the carriages!
Great family activity on a well maintained steam train and stations
I was expecting sight scenary and land scapes from train but not much very few. Ticket is expensive for this location.
Spot on place. Had a guided tour of the wheel shop as well. Thanks guys.
Excellent day out. Plenty to do!
It's no the cheapest experience, so won't be a regular trip.
But very good!! Always enjoy.
A lovely venue for all of whatever age that are interested in steam trains and heritage diesels. The setting is picturesque, being on the edge of Dartmoor and in addition to the Railway, there is an Otter and Butterfly Sanctuary in the grounds. Food, including ice creams, as well as soft drinks, tea and coffee are easily available.
A fantastic preserved railway run by volunteers, small museum a very scenic journey along the river Dart. A well stocked model railway shop and cafe for food and drink. Very enjoyable place in the summer. Social distancing measures in place with tracing info taken as you enter the grounds, unfortunately trains not running yet. However the garden railway is running and worth a trip around.
Fascinating, good to go back to a traditional form of travel.
Great experience with charming and friendly staff. Enjoyed the ride from Totnes to Buckfastleigh and the bus ride to the Abbey
Brilliantly preserved steam railway. Includes a museum too.
Wonderful day out for all the family. Such friendly and helpful staff and volunteers. Great value for money and so much to see.
We stumbled across this while wandering around Buckfastleigh. The free museum is a great source in information about the old local railway, with many photographs showing the changes through the ages. Definitely worth a visit. Don't miss the model railway tucked away at the back of the shop!
Very friendly. Good service. Excellent recreated GWR stations.
Beautiful railway. We enjoyed the whole period experience. Cannot wait to book again.
Great day Bitnhday celebrations worth every penny what ever the weather
Bit on the pricy side, but lovely journey down to the rare breeds farm. Staff are really friendly and helpful
A wonderful day out. The carriages could do with some TLC
Took the family on the santa train fantastic time loved the whole experience
Very friendly and helpful staff it's lovely to see the steam trains it's like going back in time
A great family day out but best to start and finish at Buckfastleigh where the parking is free and plentiful.
if you like trains this is the place real steam even take a ride
Lovely day like stepping back in time. Enjoyable relaxing trip on a beautiful steam train which ran exactly to the timetable unlike the modern trains!!
Stream railway running alongside the River Dart from Totnes to Buckfastleigh in Devon. A lot more relaxed than the nearby Paignton-Kingswear railway on the coast. Less crowded and they have more interesting trains. On the day I visited they More
most amazing place. most wonderful staff. wonderful day out
Had a lovely trip to Totnes on the steam train a lo g the banks of the river Dart. Wonderful. Totnes is a lovely little town. Lots of different shops to browse in.
Lovely place. Good cafe. All friendly and helpful staff.
Only time to drop in at one of the stations. It's a pleasant preserved railway with some interesting loco's.
Lovely steam train . Great ride along the river dart , helpful staff
Old steam engines and work shops
With cafe
A fantastic, laid back and cheap day out at a wonderfully preserved railway!
Did the bus/train/ferry/boat trip. Good fish and chips in Dartmouth.
More things for disabled people to do when waiting for the train and the journey needs to be longer
Nice station, generally the start of the steam train trip to Totnes (rather than from Totnes to Buckfastleigh). The line is lovely, passing through some fantastic landscape. A nice day out for the family.
Had a really lovely day. Bought a fantastic little torch with the help from a very nice lady in your shop. I won't fall into pot holes now in the dark!
A day out with Thomas. As always great fun day and well set out with lots to do..
Lovely. Better than stopping at usual services and just by the A38.
Took visitors from Australia for a day out very nice then we decided to end with a cream tea in the cafe what mistake long long wait to get served no menus on the tables and the one behind the counter was almost out of site, one young girl only serving doing her best. What have thay done some refurbished you lost us thank goodness for China Blue Totnes ,we won't be back .
The South Devon Railway is a beautiful preserved example of a country branch line. The journey runs alongside the beautiful River Dart for most of the way. The stations are immaculate examples of the 50s/ 60s and the staff are very friendly. Buckfastleigh has a large car park, cafe and picknic area and is adjacent to two other attractions. Access is directly off the A38 expressway - a good place to stop on journeys west.
Totnes Riverside station is about 600mtrs from the nearest car park and Totnes mainline station well signposted. Straight off the north end of the platform and over the little crossing is a delightful cafe/ garden belonging to the rare breeds farm (a contender for best cream tea in the county).
The trains are true to the branch line ethos with small engines and short trains all well maintained. The railway works etc is a Buckfastleigh.
The railway is very wheelchair friendly - no notice needed - except that access to the picnic area and attractions is thru a tunnel shared with the route to the car park. The trains I used were full of children and buggy.
Not running due to covid but they treated us like old friends and gave us a great tour, wonderful day.
As a local, I found it far easier and quicker to get the 88 bus to and from buckfast. The times even in June arent very frequent. I was told it costs a lot to run the train and that's why it's so minimal on times. Apparently it's a good experience which I should imagine it is. A bit too touristy for myself so I gave this a miss as I'm not overly fond of grockles in any case.
Great little railway run by volunteers very nostalgic for the over 50s who remember steam travel, a must when you are visiting this area.
It was a lovely experience. We took our Frenchie too.Staff is very kind even thinking of your dog with a treat. The view is lovely.It is a short journey but it is worth it if you like the nature.
Lovely railway, plenty of activities to do and fab train rides.
What a lovely, atmospheric station with very friendly staff.
I arrived later in the day and was accompanied by my rather anxious Romanian rescue dog....so didn't ride the trains. The staff were keen to greet her (a little too keen for Sophies liking sometimes) and a special thankyou to Mavis (forgive me if I got the name wrong) who looked after Sophie and took her round the shop while I popped in to get a desperately needed pot of tea and slice of cake (yummy). Thankyou.
Lovely station - lovely people. I hope to be back to take a trip on the trains.
Visited the gift shop and the tea room after our visit to the Otter and Butterfly farm next door. The tea room was busy - as to be expected and staff seemed to cope okay. The seating is a little on the cramped side and the outdoor seating is a little random.
Leaving nearly 20 minutes late. No bar /buffet as advertised.
