Exmouth railway station

Exmouth
Location
Place	Exmouth
Local authority	East Devon
Coordinates	50°37′18″N 3°24′54″W / 50.62179°N 3.41507°WCoordinates: 50°37′18″N 3°24′54″W / 50.62179°N 3.41507°W
Grid reference	SX999811
Operations
Station code	EXM
Managed by	Great Western Railway
Number of platforms	1
DfT category	D
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11	0.779 million
2011/12	0.826 million
2012/13	0.872 million
2013/14	0.893 million
2014/15	0.927 million
History
Original company	London and South Western Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
1861	Opened
1924	Rebuilt
1986	Rebuilt
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Exmouth from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Exmouth railway station serves the town of Exmouth in Devon, England and is 11.25 miles (18 km) south east of Exeter St Davids. The station is the terminus of the Avocet Line from Exeter St Davids (which branches off from the West of England Main Line after Exeter Central). The station is managed by Great Western Railway, who operate all trains serving it.

History

The platforms in 1969

The railway to Exmouth was opened on 1 May 1861.^[1] New docks designed by Eugenius Birch were opened in 1868 and a short branch was laid to connect them to the goods yard.^[2]

A branch line with a junction immediately beyond the end of the platforms was opened on 1 June 1903. This ran around the outskirts of Exmouth on a long, curving viaduct, passing through Littleham and then on to Budleigh Salterton meeting the Sidmouth branch line at Tipton St Johns where it connected with an earlier line to Sidmouth Junction railway station. This route was used for through carriages from London Waterloo station sometimes called the Atlantic Coast Express and also a short while from Cleethorpes, which ran via the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway and Templecombe railway station. The line was closed to all traffic on 6 March 1967 following publication of the report The Reshaping of British Railways.^[3]

The original station consisted of a single platform with a track on either side. It was rebuilt with four platform faces, opening on 20 July 1924. An engine shed was provided from the earliest days on the east side of the station, opposite the platforms. It was closed on 8 November 1963 following the introduction of DMU services on the line.

The signal box was closed on 10 March 1968 after which only one train was allowed south of Topsham and only one platform of the four-platform station was required. The station building was demolished and replaced with the present building. A single face (the old platform 2) was opened on 2 May 1986. The eastern side of the station was used for a new road which opened on 10 December 1981; the town's bus station and a swimming and sports centre are also built on the old station site.

Following the privatisation of British Rail the station was operated by Wales & West from 1997 to 2001 and Wessex Trains from 14 October 2001 until 31 March 2006; operation of the station has now transferred to Great Western Railway.

Description

There is a single platform – on the right when arriving from Exeter. The main station entrance leads to the bus station, but when the station is unstaffed another gate leads directly from the platform into a car park, from where access can be had to the bus station and the town centre.

It was reported in the Exmouth Journal during December 2005 that Exmouth station could be rebuilt as part of the redevelopment of the surrounding area. The paper printed rough plans of four options, all four provided for a new twin track station (as opposed to the current single track). However local opposition to the redevelopment scheme is high in particular because of the planned new supermarket on the estuary waterfront.

Services

A Class 150 arriving from Barnstaple

Exmouth is served by trains on the Avocet Line from Exmouth to Exeter St Davids running every 30 minutes during the day (including Sundays) and every hour in the evening.^[4] Beyond St Davids they generally continue to either Paignton or Barnstaple. Connections are available at Exeter Central for services to Axminster, Salisbury, Basingstoke, Woking and London Waterloo; passengers for other main line stations change at Exeter St Davids.

References

1. Exmouth Branch The Cornwall Railway Society; Retrieved 31 May 2016
2. Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (1992). Branch Lines to Exmouth. Midhurst: Middleton Press. ISBN 1-873793-00-6.
3. "Disused Stations - Budleigh Salterton"Disused Stations Site Record; Retrieved 31 May 2016
4. Table 136 National Rail timetable, May 2016

This station offers access to the South West Coast Path
Distance to path	0.25 miles (0.40 km)
Next station anticlockwise	Weymouth 76 miles (122 km)
Next station clockwise	Starcross 0.5 miles (0.80 km) (plus ferry)

External links

• Video footage of Exmouth Station in 2016 and 1970