Topsham railway station

Topsham National Rail

Looking towards Exeter
Location
Place Topsham
Local authority Exeter
Coordinates 50°41′09″N 3°27′50″W / 50.68588°N 3.46401°W / 50.68588; -3.46401Coordinates: 50°41′09″N 3°27′50″W / 50.68588°N 3.46401°W / 50.68588; -3.46401
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 Increase 127,903
2005/06 Increase 138,905
2006/07 Increase 156,153
2007/08 Increase 172,818
2008/09 Increase 183,006
2009/10 Increase 186,056
2010/11 Increase 199,484
2011/12 Increase 221,196
2012/13 Decrease 221,050
2013/14 Increase 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

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.

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Exton   Great Western Railway
Avocet Line
  Newcourt

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Topsham railway station.
  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
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/17/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.