THE company which owns Meldon quarry said this week that it is keeping its options open over the future of the site.

Aggregate Industries is 'putting out feelers' by advertising nationally to see if there are any potential buyers for the quarry and the 18-mile private railway line between Meldon via Okehampton to Coleford Junction.

The quarry, which had deposits of dolerite or hard rock used for railway ballast, will have its processing plant removed by the end of 2012, but the purchaser would have a number of offices, workshops and associated railway infrastructure left in situ. The tenure would include the freehold of 120 hectares, including peripheral farm land.

John Penny, estates manager south west for Aggregate Industries, told the Times: 'The company mothballed the quarry in 2011 and took away its processing plant. By putting it up for sale we are just seeing what interest there is out there and if are any offers we will consider them but we do have other options.

'We could, for example, keep hold of Meldon Quarry and hang on and see if, in five to ten years, the market for its minerals comes back.'

However, with the company retaining rights to extract minerals there any potential buyers would be limited but Mr Penny added there could be scope for recreational business, opportunities with the access to the Meldon branch railway line, the nearby cycle paths and Dartmoor itself.

Rail enthusiast and journalist Steve Broadbent said: The potential sale of the railway that connects Okehampton to Crediton and on to Exeter opens up many possibilities, any of which will affect the local area.

'On the one hand, an entrepreneurial bid with active support from the councils and Dartmoor National Park Authority could see, at the very least, the current summer services operated by the Dartmoor Railway and First Great Western continue and develop, and with sufficient support there could one day be a daily service from Okehampton to Exeter, which would doubtless bring added prosperity to the town.

'If the line is retained in use and well maintained, then, with seven million tonnes of stone available for extracation, should the economics improve then one day quarrying could resume, with jobs being created.

'On the other hand, if the track is allowed to deteriorate so that it is no longer suitable for even passenger services, then restoration would be very expensive, and the track could even be lifted and the line converted into a bridleway.

'If the quarry were to be re-opened, then lorries would have to take the stone away, something that might well not be permitted.'

Mr Penny responded by saying that any potential sale would not affect the railway line whose existence 'would be secure' at least in the short to medium term.

With Devon County Council behind attempts to restore the Okehampton and Exeter rail link for passenger use in the near future there is optimism that any sale of the quarry and the Meldon line is not the end of the line for the railway in and around Okehampton.

Roger Webster, general manager of the Dartmoor Railway, which is based at Okehampton Station, said any potential buyer would not have any quarry rights and merely acquiring the railway only to pull up the tracks for scrap would not make much economic sense.

'I think the sale could even attract an investor that could secure the future of the railway line.'

Mr Webster cited the example of the success of the summer Sunday services from Okehampton with up to 60 people a time using the link, which would benefit from the proposed Okehampton East station planned at the new business park.

Passenger train services to Okehampton, Bow, North Tawton and Sampford Courtenay were scrapped in 1972.?The railway line survived thanks to the activities of the quarry.