The Bideford, Westward Ho! and Appledore Railway (B, WH & A, R) was a railway running in north west Devon, England. It is unusual in that although it was built as a standard gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) line, it was not joined to the rest of the British railway network, despite the London and South Western Railway having a station at Bideford East-the-Water, just on the other side of the river Torridge from the main town. The line was wholly situated on the peninsula made up of Westward Ho!, Northam and Appledore with extensive sand dunes by the Torridge and Taw estuary. The line opened in stages between 1901 and 1908, but closed in 1917, having been requisitioned by the War Office. Re-opening the line after World War I was considered, but dismissed as a viable option.[1] The B.WH!&A.R. was the only railway company in the British Isles to have an exclamation mark in its company title.
Charles Kingsley wrote the novel Westward Ho!, which led to a tourist boom on the peninsula, followed by the construction of a new town called Westward Ho!. This is the only case of the publication of a novel that led to the construction of a town and then a railway to serve it.[2] The Bideford Railway Heritage Centre at the old Bideford station has an interactive display covering the B,WH&A,R as well as some surviving artefacts.