Topsham railway station

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.

Topsham
Location
Place	Topsham
Local authority	Exeter
Coordinates	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*
2014/15	0.231 million
2015/16	0.232 million
2016/17	0.250 million
2017/18	0.249 million
2018/19	0.239 million
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.

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

History

The station, with buildings designed by Sir William Tite, opened with the railway on 1 May 1861.[1] 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.[2]

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 and Paignton call at Topsham.

Connections are available at Exeter Central for Barnstaple also Honiton and other stations to London Waterloo via Salisbury; passengers for other main line stations should change at Exeter St Davids.

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

References

1. "Opening of the Exeter and Exmouth Railway". Exeter and Plymouth Gazette. England. 3 May 1861. Retrieved 15 October 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
2. Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (1992). Branch Lines to Exmouth. Midhurst: Middleton Press. ISBN 1-873793-00-6.