RAILWAY enthusiasts are planning to attach a wreath to a steam train as part of Ashburton's carnival tomorrow, to mark the end of hopes for a new rail track in the town, as the Chuley Road Masterplan is expected to be adopted by Dartmoor National Park Authority today.

The former Ashburton branch steam loco – which last left the town by rail in October 1971 just before the A38 was built over the track bed – is expected to carry a 'Farewell to Ashburton' wreath in the procession.

Friends of Ashburton Station Group chairman Alasdair Page said: 'The visit by steam loco No 1420 to Ashburton tomorrow will be a poignant one if the national park Authority members vote to endorse 'the seriously flawed masterplan' the day before as recommended by their planners.

'Once the historic Brunel design station is gone, then it's gone forever and the opportunity lost.

'All we are asking for is for the site to be protected from development so that steam trains might yet return one day in the future. We know it's an ambitious hope, but it's one with real substance and a great chance for the town's future.'

Under the proposed masterplan a supermarket and houses will be built where rail track bed once lay.

Dartmoor National Park Authority is expected to adopt the plan at their meeting today.

Last month, a split Ashburton Town Council voted in favour to back the plan, but with more local considerations taken onboard.

A spokesman for the Friends added: 'National railway magazines and several web forum groups have flocked to support the Friends of Ashburton Station.

'This Saturday is likely to be the very last time a former Great Western Railway steam engine will ever visit the sleepy Dartmoor town of Ashburton when diminutive old GWR 0-4-2 Tank No. 1420 is hauled dead – out of steam and without a fire in its belly – through the narrow streets on the back of a low loader for the local carnival in order to say a final goodbye to the town it once served so well.

'The former station, with its wonderful, almost unique Brunel-designed overall timber roof and once the terminus of a ten-mile branch line from Totnes in south Devon, will probably never again hear the whistle of a steam train. The pub opposite the station, once called "The Railway Hotel" but re-named the 'Silent Whistle' many years ago, will become reality.

'This is despite the efforts of a group of local people and railway enthusiasts who wish to see the town's historic station and route protected so that it might one day re-join the nearby South Devon Railway.'