Volunteers from the Tavistock Task Force have spent more than two years uncovering the remains of a section of the old Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway on Dartmoor.

The 25-mile railway - actually a horse-drawn tramway - was the creation of Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, the founder of Princetown, and opened in 1823 to carry Dartmoor's products, particularly granite, down to the waterside in Plymouth. It had cast iron rails which were fixed onto granite sleepers and by the mid- nineteenth century had fallen out of use. Since its abandonment most of the rails have been removed and the granite sleepers obscured by decades of vegetation growth. Part of the old tramway is today used as the Drake's Trail cycle route.

The Task Force cleared more 900m of the old railway track, revealing well over 200 of the original sleepers. The work was funded by Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA), the Dartmoor Trust and the Dartmoor Sustainable Development Fund (DSDF). Representatives from Tavistock Task Force, DNPA, West Devon Borough Council (WDBC), Devon County Council (DCC) and Roborough Commoners' Association were present at the unveiling of a new interpretation board on 20 May on Roborough Down, close to Clearbrook, in west Dartmoor.

The board - produced by DNPA with support from WDBC, DCC and the DSDF - provides information on Drake's Leat, Devonport Leat and the Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway, helping visitors to the area to understand more about its history. Tavistock Task Force is made up of volunteers of all ages and abilities from the local community. They undertake a wide range of practical conservation work, ranging from conserving archaeological sites by vegetation clearance to opening up old footpaths, and from tree planting to dry stone walling.