Barnstaple railway station is the terminus of a branch line from Exeter known as the Tarka Line after a local connection with Tarka the Otter. The station is near the end of the Long Bridge, on the opposite bank of the River Taw to the town centre. The town had several other stations but these all closed with the publication of the "Reshaping of British Railways" (the so-called Beeching Axe) report in the 1960s. The surviving station was opened on 1 August 1854 by the North Devon Railway (later the London and South Western Railway), although a service had operated from Fremington since 1848 for goods traffic only. The station became "Barnstaple Junction" on 20 July 1874, when the railway opened the branch line through to , reverting to just plain "Barnstaple" when this was closed on 5 October 1970. It is now a terminus and much reduced in size, as part of the site is used for the Barnstaple Western Bypass.