Exmouth railway station

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.

Exmouth
Location
Place	Exmouth
Local authority	East Devon
Coordinates	50.62179°N 3.41507°W / 50.62179; -3.41507
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*
2014/15	0.927 million
2015/16	0.924 million
2016/17	0.960 million
2017/18	0.962 million
2018/19	0.947 million
History
Original company	London and South Western Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
1861	Opened
1924	Rebuilt
1976	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.

History

The opening of the station in 1861 in the Illustrated London News

The railway to Exmouth was opened on 1 May 1861.[1] The first train started from Exeter Station comprising eleven carriages drawn by the engine Comet. The train with its complement of 150 passengers arrived in Exmouth at 8.16am.[2]

New docks designed by Eugenius Birch[3] were opened in 1866[4] and a short branch was laid to connect them to the goods yard.[5]

A branch line with a junction immediately beyond the end of the platforms was opened on 1 June 1903.[6] 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.[7]

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 1976. 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 when operation of the station transferred to Great Western Railway.

Description

There is a single platform, on the right when arriving from Exeter.

Services

A Class 150 arriving from Barnstaple

Exmouth is served by trains on the Avocet Line from Exmouth to Exeter St Davids and Paignton. Connections are available at Exeter Central for services to Barnstaple, Axminster, Salisbury, Basingstoke, Woking and London Waterloo; passengers for other main line stations change at Exeter St Davids.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Lympstone Village		Great Western Railway Avocet Line		Terminus
	Disused railways
Littleham Line and station closed		British Rail Southern Region Budleigh Salterton Railway		Terminus

References

1. Exmouth Branch The Cornwall Railway Society; Retrieved 31 May 2016
2. "Opening of the Exeter and Exmouth Railway". Exeter and Plymouth Gazette. England. 3 May 1861. Retrieved 15 October 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
3. "Exmouth Docks". Western Times. England. 22 April 1873. Retrieved 15 October 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
4. "Exmouth Docks". Western Times. England. 8 June 1866. Retrieved 15 October 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
5. Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (1992). Branch Lines to Exmouth. Midhurst: Middleton Press. ISBN 1-873793-00-6.
6. "Opening of the Exmouth and Salterton Railway". 6 June 1903. England. 22 April 1873. Retrieved 15 October 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
7. "Disused Stations - Budleigh Salterton"Disused Stations Site Record; Retrieved 31 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