A SPECIAL event to promote Dartmoor and the Dartmoor Line will be held at Okehampton Station on Saturday, September 24.

Destination Dartmoor is being organised by the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership and will celebrate the beautiful landscape of the moor and encourage people to hop on a train from Exeter to come and explore it and Okehampton itself.

Development officer for the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership Rebecca Catterall said the event would run from 10am to 4.30pm and would include all sorts of activities on both platforms.

Mayes Creative which engages communities in creative experiences to explore their world through heritage, science, technology and the environment has been involved in the day and its work with Okehampton College students has resulted in a documentary featuring some of the people who used to work on the line before it shut in the 1970s.

The documentary will be shown throughout the day and there will be more film, photography, music, with audience participation, and guided walks — focusing on nature, history and photography.

A solar powered station clock will be stopping on relevant times in history including the day last passenger train travelled from Okehampton to Exeter 50 years ago before services returned last November and there will be footage around these events.

Passengers numbers have been exceeding expectation since the service was reinstated. It is being well used by commuters travelling to Exeter but more than 40% of the journeys are by people coming to Okehampton for leisure.

The Destination Dartmoor Day will include art activities on the train through the day including edible poetry.

‘This day is all about promoting Dartmoor and the Dartmoor Line but using Okehampton as a gateway,’ said Rebecca.