Topsham railway station

Topsham
Looking towards Exeter
Location
Place	Topsham
Local authority	Exeter
Coordinates	50°41′09″N 3°27′50″W / 50.68588°N 3.46401°WCoordinates: 50°41′09″N 3°27′50″W / 50.68588°N 3.46401°W
Grid reference	SX966883
Operations
Station code	TOP
Managed by	Great Western Railway
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2002/03	105,717
2004/05	127,903
2005/06	138,905
2006/07	156,153
2007/08	172,818
2008/09	183,006
2009/10	186,056
2010/11	199,484
2011/12	221,196
2012/13	221,050
2013/14	221,332
History
Original company	London and South Western Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
Opened	1861
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Topsham from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Exeter Railway Stations
Legend
Avocet Line to Exmouth Topsham Newcourt Digby and Sowton Polsloe Bridge West of England Main Line to London Waterloo via Salisbury Pinhoe St James Park Exeter Central Bristol to Exeter Line to Bristol and London Paddington Exeter St Davids Tarka Line to Barnstaple Exeter St Thomas Riviera Line to Paignton   Exeter to Plymouth Line to Plymouth & Penzance

Topsham railway station is the railway station serving the town of Topsham in the English county of Devon. It is the passing place for the otherwise single-track branch line from Exmouth Junction to Exmouth. Both the loop and adjacent level crossing are remotely worked from the signal box at Exmouth Junction.

History

The Topsham station topiary hedge in 1969.

The station, with buildings designed by Sir William Tite, opened with the railway on 1 May 1861. On 23 September 1861 a 700 yards (640 m) branch was opened from the south end of the station, which dropped steeply to the wharf on the River Exe.^[1]

The station was initially owned by the London and South Western Railway. In 1923 this became a constituent of the Southern Railway which, in turn was nationalised in 1948. Following the privatisation of British Rail it was operated by Wessex Trains but the franchise has now been transferred to First Great Western.

The old station buildings and signal box are now occupied by offices.

Services

All trains on the Avocet Line from Exmouth to Exeter St Davids call at Topsham. There is a half-hourly daytime service in each direction (including Sundays), dropping to hourly in the evening.^[2]

Beyond St Davids they continue alternately to Paignton or Barnstaple. Connections are available at Exeter Central for Pinhoe and stations to Waterloo via Salisbury; passengers for other main line stations should change at Exeter St Davids.

The station is part of the new Penalty Fare Zone, where passengers could be charged a £20 penalty fare if a ticket is not purchased prior to joining the train. It is unstaffed, with a computerised ticket machine on the Exeter-bound platform. The only way to cross between platforms is the adjacent road crossing, closed when trains are approaching and in the station, so extra time should be budgeted if buying an Exmouth ticket, as it is possible to be trapped on the wrong side of the line.

References

1. Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (1992). Branch Lines to Exmouth. Midhurst: Middleton Press. ISBN 1-873793-00-6.
2. Table 136 National Rail timetable, May 2016