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The daytime Surbiton to Okehampton Car Carrier service came about following a Southern Region managerial request for service improvements. The (then) Okehampton shed foreman, Arthur Westlake submitted the idea for a car-carrying service with passengers accompanying their cars on the same train; this plan included the efficient working of stock. Management adopted the plan with Arthur Westlake being paid two guineas for his idea.

Accordingly, the Okehampton Car Carrier service was introduced by British Railways on 18th June 1960 with the first train being hauled from Surbiton to Exeter by rebuilt Merchant Navy 35029 ‘Ellerman Lines’ with West Country 34023 ‘Blackmore Vale’ undertaking the return section to /from Okehampton. The passenger rolling stock was Green-liveried BR standard Mk 1 3-Cor set 564 (BSK + CK + BSK) attached to the rear of seven lined-maroon GUV vehicles (Down direction).

Following the 1962 Transport Act, disbandment of the British Transport Commission and Dr Beeching’s drive bring the railways back into profitability through his 1963 report ‘The Reshaping of British Railways’, there was an imperative to identify and develop profitable traffics with loss-making or only marginally profitable to either be reorganised with realistic pricing else withdrawn. Certainly, the Okehampton Car Carrier service was labour-intensive, its stock-utilisation low and was unlikely to fit in with plans for the ‘modern’ railway’s nationwide car-carrying services.

Accordingly, the last Surbiton to Okehampton Car Carrier service ran on 12th September 1964.