Axminster railway station

Axminster Railway Station

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Axminster railway station

Axminster railway station serves the town of Axminster

Axminster

Axminster is a market town on the eastern border of Devon, England. The town is built on a hill overlooking the River Axe, Devon which heads towards the English Channel at Axmouth, and is in the East Devon local government district....
in East Devon

East Devon

East Devon is a Non-metropolitan district in Devon, England. Its council is based in Sidmouth.The district was formed on April 1, 1974 by the merger of the borough of Honiton with the urban districts of Budleigh Salterton, Exmouth, Devon, Ottery St....
.
station was opened on 19 July 1860, with the London and South Western Railway

London and South Western Railway

The London and South Western Railway was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Its network extended from London to Plymouth via Salisbury and Exeter, with branches to Ilfracombe and Padstow and via Southampton to Bournemouth and Weymouth, Dorset....
(LSWR) offering direct services between Queen Street Station in Exeter

Exeter

Exeter Exeter was the most south-westerly Roman fortified settlement in Roman Britain and has existed since time immemorial. Exeter Cathedral, founded in 1050 is Anglicanism....
and Yeovil

Yeovil

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Axminster railway station serves the town of Axminster

Axminster

East Devon

History

The station was opened on 19 July 1860, with the London and South Western Railway

London and South Western Railway

Exeter

Exeter Exeter was the most south-westerly Roman fortified settlement in Roman Britain and has existed since time immemorial. Exeter Cathedral, founded in 1050 is Anglicanism....
and Yeovil

Yeovil

Yeovil is a town in south Somerset, England, on the A30 road and A37 road. It has a population of 41,871 at the 2001 census . The town lies within the local district of South Somerset and the Yeovil ....
. The station building was designed by the LSWR's architect Sir William Tite in mock gothic style.Services eventually settled down with express train services to London Waterloo as well as local services to Exeter and Salisbury. The whole line had been a candidate for closure in the 1960s but after single track rationalisation and modernisation now has a secure future with a much increased train service in recent years and investment in stock and stations. Only one of the two platforms is currently in use.

The station became part of the Southern Railway

Southern Railway (Great Britain)

The Southern Railway , was a British railway company established in the Railways Act 1921. It linked London with the English Channel ports, South West England and Kent....
during the Grouping

Railways Act 1921

The Railways Act of 1921, also known as the Grouping Act, was an Act of Parliament by the British government of David Lloyd George intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, move the railways away from internal competition, and to retain some of the benefits which the country had derived from...
of 1923. Despite that, the station then passed on to the Western Region of British Railways

Western Region of British Railways

The Western Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s and was wound-up at the end of 1992....
on nationalisation in 1948.

When sectorisation

British Rail brand names

British Rail was the brand image of the nationalised railway owner and operator in Great Britain, the British Railways Board, used from its formation in 1965, until its privatisation of British Rail from 1993 onwards....
was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by Network SouthEast

Network SouthEast

Network SouthEast was one of three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE principally operated commuter trains in the London area and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England....
, the line to Exeter being the furthest point from London served by that sector, until the privatisation of British Railways

Privatisation of British Rail

The privatisation of British Rail was the result of the Railways Act 1993 introduced by John Major's Conservative Party government. The operations of the British Railways Board were broken up and sold off....
.

Lyme Regis Branch
Lyme Regis branch line

|}The Lyme Regis branch line was a branch line off the West of England Main Line in the south west of England, opened in 1903. It ran from Axminster railway station in East Devon, via the hamlet of Combpyne and through the village of Uplyme where the line crossed a large bridge known as "The Cannington Viaduct" and crossed the Devon county...

In 1903, the branch line from Axminster to Lyme Regis

Lyme Regis branch line

|}The Lyme Regis branch line was a branch line off the West of England Main Line in the south west of England, opened in 1903. It ran from Axminster railway station in East Devon, via the hamlet of Combpyne and through the village of Uplyme where the line crossed a large bridge known as "The Cannington Viaduct" and crossed the Devon county...
was opened. A bay platform was built on the west side of the station and the branch climbed steeply crossing the main line by a bridge, a rather unusual arrangement. This branch line was closed with the Beeching

Beeching Axe

The Beeching Axe is an informal name for the HM Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom....
cuts, on the 29th September 1965. One of the engines used on the branch, an Adams radial tank engine number 30583 has been preserved on the Bluebell Line

Bluebell Railway

The Bluebell Railway is a heritage railway running for nine miles along the border between East Sussex and West Sussex, England. Steam trains are operated between Sheffield Park railway station and Kingscote railway station, with an intermediate station at Horsted Keynes railway station....
, in Sussex

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Su?seaxe , is a Historic counties of England in South East England England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex....
, while Lyme Regis station has been dismantled and reconstructed at New Alresford

New Alresford

New Alresford or simply Alresford is a small town and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It is situated some 12 km north-east of the city of Winchester, and 20 km south-west of the town of Alton, Hampshire....
, on the Watercress Line, in Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire , sometimes historically Southamptonshire, Hamptonshire, , or the County of Southampton, is a Counties of England on the south coast of England....
.

Seaton Junction

A few miles to the west of Axminster on the main line was Seaton Junction station just to the west near the village of Shute. Branch line services to Colyton

Colyton, Devon

Colyton is a small town in Devon, England. It is located within the East Devon local authority area. Its population in 1991 was 2,783....
and Seaton

Seaton, Devon

Seaton is a seaside town in East Devon on the south coast of England.The town faces onto Lyme Bay, to the west of the mouth of the River Axe, Devon with red cliffs to one side and white cliffs on the other....
started from here until November 1967, when the branch and the junction station were closed.

The singling of the line causes some operating difficulties and there have been proposals to construct a "dynamic" passing loop

Passing loop

A passing loop is a place on a Single track railway/tramway where trains/trams in opposing directions can pass each other. Trains/trams in the same direction can also overtake, providing that the Railway signalling arrangement allows it....
near to and/or through the station along with another at Whimple

Whimple railway station

Whimple station serves the village of Whimple in East Devon, Devon, England. The Station is operated by South West Trains and is on the West of England Main Line....
to enable a more frequent service to Exeter. A dynamic loop as proposed would be long enough to allow trains to pass at speed, without requiring one to be stationary.

Axminster railway station

History

Seaton Junction

Services

External links