Barnstaple centre was at nearby . The station building still exists, and can be viewed on-line from a webcam mounted on Barnstaple Civic Centre. A separate "Barnstaple" station, renamed Barnstaple (Victoria Road) in 1949, was opened to the east of the town in 1873 as the terminus of the Devon and Somerset Railway, eventually a part of the Great Western Railway. A junction was later provided to allow trains access to Barnstaple Junction and these ran through to Ilfracombe. It was closed in 1970. There are a selection of well-regarded primary and secondary state schools and a tertiary college in Barnstaple.
Lynton and Barnstaple Railway Trust negotiations, was purchased by the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Company on behalf of the "Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Association". Following further negotiations and purchase of other parts of the trackbed, Woody Bay is now the centre of operations for the restoration project. The former station at Chelfham is now also owned by the Railway Company. The Association was absorbed into The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Trust which was first registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales on 22 September 2000. The Trust has to date received only a small amount of grant funding, the vast majority of income