The station was opened by the North Devon Railway on 1 August 1854. On 1 November 1865 the first section of the Okehampton Railway opened, joining the main line at Coleford Junction, a short distance north of Yeoford. This route was part of the London and South Western Railway main line between Exeter and, and was the main junction of the LSWR's Plymouth and Barnstaple routes, but this lost its through trains beyond in May 1968 and closed to passengers in 1972. Passenger trains have since been restored to the Okehampton line, but they only operate on summer Sundays and do not call at Yeoford. The two tracks passing through the station are actually independent single lines, with the one running through the disused platform used for Okehampton line trains, including stone traffic from the Aggregate Industries quarry at Meldon. The Tarka Line trains utilise what used to be the Exeter platform in both directions, with the two lines connecting further south at. The station has been used by many operators, but recently, over the last decade by Wales & West, a regional West Country and south Walestrain operator, which in 2001 divided into Wessex Trains and Wales & Borders. Since then, Yeoford has been served by Wessex Trains and more recently by the Greater Western franchise, owned and operated by FirstGroup and now known as Great Western Railway.
Services
The Tarka Line has an hourly service through most of the day but trains only stop at Yeoford on request. Trains connect with main line services at.
Community railway
The railway between Exeter and Barnstaple is designated as a community railway and is supported by marketing provided by the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership. The line is promoted under the Tarka Line name.
Future
When under the ownership of ECT Group, the Dartmoor Railway had planned to reopen the disused platform at the station in order to create an interchange with the Tarka Line. Through running from Yeoford to Okehampton was intended to commence in 2009 but this was delayed pending the finalising of transfer arrangements with Network Rail. Accordingly, the "Sunday Rover" service run by Great Western Railway again operated on Sundays throughout the summer of 2009, although not calling here. Though the GWR summer trains have continued to operate since, agreement over the use of Yeoford as an interchange has still not been reached and in recent years, the Dartmoor Railway have not pursued this objective. Services on the Dartmoor Railway were suspended in September 2019.
