The nearest railway station is at Barnstaple away. Bideford was previously connected to the national rail network, but the connection was lost in 1982 (by then only a freight branch and that was primarily due to the ball clay traffic from Meeth Quarry) with the closure of the line from Barnstaple to Torrington and Meeth quarry. Passenger services were lost in 1965 following the publication of the Beeching Report. The station still exists East-the-Water and is now managed by a preservation group, the Bideford Railway Heritage Centre. The line followed the contours of the River Torridge for much of its route to Torrington and most of it continues to exist now as part of the Tarka Trail.