The extension to West Bay opened in 1884 and the GWR hoped that the area would develop into a major holiday resort. The harbour itself had substantially declined in importance over the years, reducing to 10% of its former trade from 1830 to 1880,David St John Thomas, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain; Volume 1: the West Country, Third edition, 1966, David & Charles, Newton Abbot in part because of the arrival of the railway itself.
