The South West Coast Path between Braunton, Barnstaple and Barnstaple, Bideford is the former trackbed of the London and South Western (LSWR) railway. Barnstaple was an important (and busy) railway junction, with lines to Ilfracombe, Bideford, Exeter and before 1935, Lynton.

The LSWR, which became the Southern Railway in 1923, was in direct competition with the Great Western for the lucrative holiday trade and had lines which went to Bude, Wadebridge and Padstow on the north Cornish coast. Its most famous train was the Atlantic Coast Express known simply as `the ACE'.