Dartmoor Railway
Dartmoor Railway
4
Saturday
11:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Sunday
11:00 AM - 4:00 PM
About
Duration: 1-2 hours
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

4.0
4.0 of 5 bubbles191 reviews
Excellent
120
Very good
29
Average
14
Poor
7
Terrible
21

Chris
Nuneaton, UK4 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2022 • Couples
My wife and I booked a trip from Okehampton to Exeter Central on 21st November. We were going to visit the Christmas Market and return within a couple of hours. When we arrived back at the station, the trains back to Okehampton were cancelled due to “water on the line”? That’s when the nightmare began. The GWR person told us to get on the train to Exeter St David’s. So we did. It turns out, that was just to get rid of us. The Trains were still cancelled to Okehampton. But the info boards said to catch the 5/5A bus back. It turned out that route had recently been abandoned by Stage Coach, the only company with a reciprocal agreement with GWR. We had to get a bus back into Exeter. Apparently to catch a “Go Bus”. The Go Bus drivers completely ignored us, so we ended up catching a bus to Crediton, then there’s a Go Bus that takes about 2 hours to get to Okehampton via Copplestone? So we got a Taxi. In all it cost us £56.60 to get back to Okehampton in bus and taxi fares. The information points at crediton didn’t work, and the advice we received from GWR was wrong and out of date. It’s a real shame because reopening this link is a life line to Okehampton, especially in terms of all the new house building going on. I won’t be risking taking this journey again. It wouldn’t have been beyond the wit of man for GWR to arrange a shuttle bus replacement. Oh yeah, and the car park at Okehampton was £4 instead of the £2 stated on line. ☹️👎
Written November 23, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

SuzieSarahDavies
Tavistock, UK117 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2022 • Couples
We had a lovely train journey from Okehampton Railway Station to Exeter St. David’s yesterday. The train had two carriages that were spotless. A friendly inspector checked all tickets and helped a couple whose onward journey had been cancelled.

The views were beautiful of open countryside, winding rivers, golf course and plenty of animal life to enjoy.

The train called at Crediton before stopping at Exeter St. David’s. It was busy being a Sunday morning, which was great to see, as the service has only been operating since November 2021.

We would definitely recommend the train ride, which saves fuel and parking in Exeter.
Written April 25, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Samuel007
Exeter, UK335 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2022 • Couples
A really enjoyable journey followed by a great walk in the autumn sun. Then lunch at the fabulous Bulleid Buffet on Okehampton Station itself - everything hot and fresh and delicious. We were delighted by the restoration of the station, and by its smart and clean appearance. It was such a good outing.
Written November 29, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Heather H
United Kingdom69 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2013 • Family
Christmas is in 18 weeks, do not make the same mistake that I made by thinking the polar express experience will be a special train ride inspired by magic. The amateur performers spoit the whole experience for my grandson who wanted to sit and listen to the story. The hot chocolate and cookie was of very poor quality, and the follow up customer service to my complaint was non-existent.
Written August 21, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

bartlettmj
devon16 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2017 • Family
With high expectation,my son paid £40 per head this very poor experience.There were problems with the tickets ,very poor response from the event managers. The parking was well organised,we were able to park without difficulty.Once on the platform it was all a it chaotic.Very poor fast food was available at highly inflated prices.Once boarded on the train , we were “entertained “ by manic actors with American accents ,that frequently slipped into English .A small hot chocolate and cookie was served on the journey.We were taken a few miles to the Christmas town (a cardboard house) with the elves and Santa waving .They joined the train for the return journey and ran manically up and down the carriage.The older children enjoyed it but absolutely not worth the ticket price.There was an actor dressed as a squirrel running up and down the carriage ,not sure where he fitted into the story ,but the BO was very unpleasant.Santa made his way along the carriage handing out unwrapped medals to the children as a gift .whilst he stopped to speak to everyone he was the most depressed Santa I have ever met! Not even a ho ho ho.....definitely a no no no next year

Written December 11, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Polly T
1 contribution
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2016 • Family
To anyone thinking of booking this and expecting a magical train ride based on that classic Christmas family film The Polar Express .. I would say please DO NOT waste your money! You will be so disappointed!
The sad thing is that i booked it based on the knowledge that the Polar Express story is all about restoring the magic of Christmas and encouraging doubting children to believe... well thanks to this little outing my daughter, quite understandably, has a few more doubts... So, thank you for that Dartmoor railway!
It was an absolute joke! We arrived at the station expecting to see the Polar Express at the station instead we're met with a tired old 80's locomotive! The conductor - the Tom Hanks character in the film met us on to the train although he was nothing like the character from the film ... instead he was about 20 and covered in spots, had really bad breath and was wearing the worst stick on moustache i have ever seen! When we were seated in our filthy stained seats, with ash trays overflowing with rubbish in a really poorly decorated very tatty carriage we met our two chefs.. 2 very sweaty men in filthy chefs outfits with some glitter smeared under their eyes, making really bad jokes and looking pretty uninterested!
And so our journey began...yes, they sang the hot chocolate song, and delivered everyone a hot chocolate and a cookie... but please don't kid yourself this will be anything like the film... it was far from it! Then conductor slowly made his way up the carriage, hole punching the kids tickets with their first initial... very little magic here...it just looked like a very monotonous task! We were then played a reading of The polar Express while the chefs stood awkwardly one each end of the long carriage holding copies of the book in the air and complaining of how it made their arms ache! We did go through a tunnel which had some Christmas lights stuck up inside!! And then we arrived at the pole... just when you thought it couldn't get any worse... we saw from the train window a patch of fake snow ,,, (a very small patch) a couple of sheds with lights round them, some very small plastic reindeer and a very small very shabby sleigh! There were a few girls dressed as elves waving at us, we stopped they jumped on, accompanied by the most ridiculously bad father Christmas ... really unrealistic stuck on beard, cheap costume and more bad acting. He said a half hearted hello to all the kids and gave them a bell (which is the only quality thing i can take away from the experience!) and so we started our return journey home, which consisted of the 2 sweaty chefs and now a girl dressed as an elf encouraging the carriage of people to join in singing to some pretty bad cheesy Christmas songs.
So, not quite the magical journey i had hoped for. I have a 9 and 6 year old and like so many parents work really hard every year to keep the magic alive for them and make sure they have the best experience possible, only to have that completely ruined by this utter rubbish. Came away feeling totally ripped off and really upset that i had subjected my kids to that!
Written January 23, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

DevonLocal1
2 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2014
For the price that you pay it really isn't worth the money. The conductors try to make what is a very poor product entertaining and valuable but it just isn't enough. The cold chocolate drink was horrible and the cookie wasn't much better either. Never one to come on to TA and write bad reviews but this one is necessary. Honestly can't believe they can charge the kind of prices they do and get away with it. Never going again!!!!
Written December 28, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Claire Evans
1 contribution
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2019 • Family
What a disappointment today was, £71 for four adults and a 2 year old child, we were led to believe that Peppa Pig would be visiting the chidren on the train with a nice gift for them, in reality, the train was absolutely filthy, we had to clean the table ourselves as it was covered in crisps and drink, the train journey was 5 minutes in length. Peppa Pig told stories to the children (no gift), my neice kept asking where he present was, we were there for 30 minutes in total, 5 minute train journey back, the gift was a paper bag of sweets which I could have purchased for £1.00! £71 for an hour on a hot and filthy train! Sweets were too old for my two year old neice (Peppa Pig egg for four years plus), when I mentioned this to the 'ticket master' he simply shrugged and said 'that is what there is'!
Written April 21, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Bristol-couple
Bristol, uk75 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2018 • Family
Reading some of the reviews obviously other people were mislead as well. We booked for the Polar Express and the website looked the same but failed to notice 'the train to Christmas Town'. The previous year it was the Polar Express which was really good. This year it was absolute rubbish. We were so disappointed and upset they had charged the same price as the Polar Express. From beginning to end it was bad. We saw other families in their pyjamas as well so they were expecting the Polar Express too. They made a huge mistake losing the contract as no-one in their right mind would want to go on that again. We have managed to book the Polar Express in Telford this year and really looking forward to it.
Written May 10, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

StuartSeeley
Charlotte, NC11 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2017 • Family
Really enjoyable visit to ride the train to Christmas Town To start arrival on the platform, mulled wine etc, well decorated.. Great train ride with dancers and singing to keep the children entertained. Arriving at Christmas Town Santa and the elves were waving and then the elves got up to mischief on the return journey again to really entertain all onboard. With Santa meeting all the children riding the train it will be a memorable event. Why three stars, well the gift shop just totally took the mickey out of guests. £20 for a cheap Chinese Polar Express train just stank of ripping people off. These at a third of the price you would have sold hundreds more than you did and you would have made so much more profit...we will visit next year, but will avoid the gift shop at all costs...
Written December 9, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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Dartmoor Railway - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

Frequently Asked Questions about Dartmoor Railway

Dartmoor Railway is open:
  • Sat - Sun 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM