AT first glance the 11.43am Tarka Line service from Barnstaple to Exeter on Monday, December 19, seemed a train like any other. But not quite.

Keen-eyed observers might have spotted a larger-than-usual per centage of men in suits, their heads bowed over calculators.

Melanie Harvey, the line's Station Manager was on-hand, as was Richard Burningham, Manager of the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership.

For a drab December day there seemed a lot of passengers with cameras.

The men with calculators conferred, and nodded sagely...and suddenly it was official. On board the 11.43am departure was Jenny Kelly, aged 10, the Tarka Line's 500,000th passenger in 2011!

A rather awe-struck Jenny, travelling back to Northampton with her mother, Vicki, suddenly found herself the centre of attention and her mum the proud possessor of a set of four First Class tickets presented by First Great Western and good for travel anywhere in the company's empire.

As other passengers looked on, the 10 year-old posed for the press cameras.

The officials were adamant. She was the 500,000th passenger. (Mum was only number 499,999!) Recovering from her shock, Vicki spent the first leg of the journey texting husband Stephen, younger daughter Ellie, (eight) and the rest of the family.

"They think I'm having them on," she said. "They just can't believe it. It's like some Christmas magic!"

Magic may have played its part, but there was no arguing with the line's recent passenger figures. As recently as 2004, some 240,000 passenger journeys were made on the 39-mile route.

Last year the Tarka Line clocked up 446,000, and on Monday, December 19, the figure rose to half a million.

Tarka Rail Association Chairman, John Burch, on hand to witness the historic event, expressed his delight. "Any way you look at it, these are remarkable figures - the highest in the line's 157 year history. In fact Tarka is now the sixth fastest growing Community Rail line of around 80 in the U.K.