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The station was opened in 1871 when the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) extended its line from Sampford Courtenay. Okehampton become an important junction with lines to Padstow and Bude as well as Plymouth. The station survived the Beeching cuts of the early 1960s but Okehampton lost its passenger services from 1972. The line survived, however, for the purposes of freight thanks to the activities of the British Rail ballast quarry at Meldon, three miles from Okehampton, which had an output of 300,000 tons per year. The quarry survives to this day, although it is now operated by Aggregate Industries. Okehampton station was restored in 1997 and the Dartmoor Railway operates heritage passenger services from the station, running to Sampford Courtenay and Meldon.