Churston railway station is on the
Paignton and Dartmouth Steam RailwayThe Paignton & Dartmouth Steam Railway is a heritage railway on the former Kingswear branch line between Paignton and Kingswear in Torbay, Devon, England....
, a
heritage railwayA heritage railway , preserved railway , tourist railway , or tourist railroad is a term used for a railway which is run as a tourist attraction, is usually but not always run by volunteers, and often seeks to re-create railway scenes of the past A heritage railway (United Kingdom and Australia),...
in
TorbayTorbay is an east-facing bay and natural harbour, at the western most end of Lyme Bay in the south-west of England, situated roughly midway between the cities of Exeter and Plymouth. Part of the ceremonial county of Devon, Torbay was made a unitary authority on April 1, 1998...
,
DevonDevon is a large county in England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, although that is an unofficial name, rarely used inside of the county itself and often indicating a traditional or historical context. The county shares borders with Cornwall to the west and Dorset and Somerset to...
, England. It is on the main road to
BrixhamBrixham is a small fishing town and civil parish in the county of Devon, in the south-west of England. Brixham is at the southern end of Torbay, across the bay from Torquay, and is a fishing port. Fishing and Tourism are its major industries....
and close to the villages of
GalmptonGalmpton is a village in Torbay, Devon, England. It is located west of Brixham and is the home of Galmpton United F.C. Greenway Estate, a Grade II* listed house and garden acquired by the National Trust in 1999, is nearby...
and
Churston FerrersChurston is a coastal village in Devon, England, twinned with the small village of Galmpton. It is situated in Torbay and lies between Torquay and Brixham....
.
The
Dartmouth and Torbay RailwayThe Dartmouth and Torbay Railway was a broad gauge railway linking the South Devon Railway branch at Torquay with Kingswear in Devon, England. It was operated from the outset by the South Devon Railway....
from
Paignton railway stationPaignton railway station is the railway station serving Paignton in Devon, England. It is the terminus of the Riviera Line from Exeter and is also an interchange between National Rail services and the preserved Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway.-History:...
to Churston was opened for passengers on 14 March 1861 and for goods traffic on 1 April 1861. The station was known as
Brixham Road at the time, and the line was extended to
Kingswear railway stationKingswear railway station is the terminus of the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway, a heritage railway in Devon, England. It is situated in the centre of Kingswear, on the shores of the River Dart opposite Dartmouth....
on 16 August 1864. The initial single
platformA railway platform is a section of pathway, alongside rail tracks at a train station, metro station or tram stop, at which passengers may board or alight from trains or trams. Almost all stations for rail transport have some form of platforms, with larger stations having multiple platforms...
was supplemented by a second in 1865.
Churston railway station is on the
Paignton and Dartmouth Steam RailwayThe Paignton & Dartmouth Steam Railway is a heritage railway on the former Kingswear branch line between Paignton and Kingswear in Torbay, Devon, England....
, a
heritage railwayA heritage railway , preserved railway , tourist railway , or tourist railroad is a term used for a railway which is run as a tourist attraction, is usually but not always run by volunteers, and often seeks to re-create railway scenes of the past A heritage railway (United Kingdom and Australia),...
in
TorbayTorbay is an east-facing bay and natural harbour, at the western most end of Lyme Bay in the south-west of England, situated roughly midway between the cities of Exeter and Plymouth. Part of the ceremonial county of Devon, Torbay was made a unitary authority on April 1, 1998...
,
DevonDevon is a large county in England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, although that is an unofficial name, rarely used inside of the county itself and often indicating a traditional or historical context. The county shares borders with Cornwall to the west and Dorset and Somerset to...
, England. It is on the main road to
BrixhamBrixham is a small fishing town and civil parish in the county of Devon, in the south-west of England. Brixham is at the southern end of Torbay, across the bay from Torquay, and is a fishing port. Fishing and Tourism are its major industries....
and close to the villages of
GalmptonGalmpton is a village in Torbay, Devon, England. It is located west of Brixham and is the home of Galmpton United F.C. Greenway Estate, a Grade II* listed house and garden acquired by the National Trust in 1999, is nearby...
and
Churston FerrersChurston is a coastal village in Devon, England, twinned with the small village of Galmpton. It is situated in Torbay and lies between Torquay and Brixham....
.
Before preservation
The
Dartmouth and Torbay RailwayThe Dartmouth and Torbay Railway was a broad gauge railway linking the South Devon Railway branch at Torquay with Kingswear in Devon, England. It was operated from the outset by the South Devon Railway....
from
Paignton railway stationPaignton railway station is the railway station serving Paignton in Devon, England. It is the terminus of the Riviera Line from Exeter and is also an interchange between National Rail services and the preserved Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway.-History:...
to Churston was opened for passengers on 14 March 1861 and for goods traffic on 1 April 1861. The station was known as
Brixham Road at the time, and the line was extended to
Kingswear railway stationKingswear railway station is the terminus of the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway, a heritage railway in Devon, England. It is situated in the centre of Kingswear, on the shores of the River Dart opposite Dartmouth....
on 16 August 1864. The initial single
platformA railway platform is a section of pathway, alongside rail tracks at a train station, metro station or tram stop, at which passengers may board or alight from trains or trams. Almost all stations for rail transport have some form of platforms, with larger stations having multiple platforms...
was supplemented by a second in 1865. The Dartmouth and Torbay Railway was always operated by the
South Devon Railway CompanyThe South Devon Railway Company built and operated the railway from Exeter to Plymouth and Torquay in Devon, England. It was a broad gauge railway built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel-Chronology:* 1844 South Devon Railway Act passed by parliament...
and was amalgamated with it on 1 January 1872. This was only short lived as it was in turn amalgamated into the
Great Western RailwayThe Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835, and ran its first trains three years later...
on 1 February 1876.
In the meantime the station had changed its name to Churston when an independent branch line had been opened by the
Torbay and Brixham RailwayThe Torbay and Brixham Railway was a 7 ft 0ΒΌ in broad gauge railway which linked the Dartmouth and Torbay Railway at Churston railway station, Devon with the important fishing port of Brixham...
to serve the latter town on 28 February 1868 .. The station was now a junction but the
goods shedA goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train.A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built alongside a track with possibly just a canopy over the door...
had to be moved to a new site alongside the Brixham line to make room for a short bay platform to accommodate the Brixham trains. Sidings were added to allow for the goods traffic handled on the branch, including a busy trade in fish. The Torbay & Brixham Railway was taken over by the Great Western Railway on 1 January 1883.
The lines had been built using the
broad gaugeBroad gauge railways use a rail gauge greater than the standard gauge of .- List :For a list see: List of broad gauges, by gauge and country- History :...
, but on 21 May 1892 were closed for the weekend to be converted to
standard gaugeThe standard gauge is a widely-used rail gauge. Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
. The following year saw the platforms lengthened and a new
signal boxA signal box or signal cabin is a building from which railway signals and points are controlled. The term signal cabin is used in Ireland, parts of Scotland and in Australia while in North America, the term interlocking tower predominates.- History :Originally, all signalling was done by...
constructed. The platforms were further lengthened and a new signal box opened on 9 February 1913 to control the now extended crossing loop.
The Great Western Railway was nationalised into British Railways on 1 January 1948. The Brixham branch closed on 13 May 1963, but the Kingswear service continued but Sunday trains no longer called at Churston after the 1967 summer season. General freight traffic was withdrawn on 14 June 1965 although coal was still handled until 4 December 1967. The crossing loop was taken out of use on 20 October 1968 and the signal box closed.
In preservation
The line was sold to the
Dart Valley RailwayThe Dart Valley Railway could be one of two heritage railways in Devon:* The South Devon Railway, which was reopened by Dart Valley Light Railway plc in 1969, and taken over by South Devon Railway Trust in 1992....
on 30 December 1972, which operated another nearby railway at . Since then Churston has become an important centre for engineering on the railway.
The signal box was reopened in 1979 to control a new crossing loop, albeit with electric multiple-aspect signals, and the following year the former Brixham bay platform was relaid. In 1981 the
turntableIn rail terminology, a turntable is a device used to turn railroad rolling stock. When steam locomotives were still in wide use, many railroads needed a way to turn the locomotives around for return trips as their controls were often not configured for extended periods of running in reverse and in...
from
GoodringtonGoodrington Sands railway station is on the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway, a heritage railway in Devon, England. It is close to Goodrington beach and the Quay West Water Park in Paignton.-History:...
was moved to a position alongside the Brixham junction at Churston. The signal box was closed again in 1991 when control of the whole line was transferred to Britannia Crossing at Kingswear. A locomotive workshop was built behind the Up (towards Paignton) platform in 1993 and the station building restored and reopened. The Brixham bay platform was then covered by a carriage workshop in 1996.
Future plans
The
Association of Train Operating CompaniesThe Association of Train Operating Companies is a body which represents 26 train operating companies that provide passenger railway services on the privatised British railway system. It owns the National Rail brand. The Association is an unincorporated association owned by its members...
included Brixham one of fourteen towns that, based on 2009 data, would benefit from a new railway service. This would be an extension of the
First Great WesternFirst Great Western is the operating name of First Greater Western Ltd, a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup, which operates services in the west and south west of England and South Wales....
service over the
Riviera LineThe Riviera Line is a local railway line that connects the city of Exeter to the "English Riviera" resorts of Torbay in Devon, England. It is closely linked with the London to Penzance Line with which it shares the route along the South Devon sea wall...
from as far as Churston, which would then act as a railhead for Brixham. It would also serve other housing developments in the area since the opening of the steam railway, and may require the doubling of that line between and .
Description
The main entrance is onto the platform mainly used by trains towards Kingswear. Signalling allows trains to use this in both directions but in practice trains towards Paignton depart from the opposite platform, which is reached by a footbridge. The station buildings are built of solid masonry with a large canopy integral wit the roof. The local paper described them on the opening day "as unarchitectural as any Goth could wish".
Alongside the main platform, at the Paignton end, a modern workshop stands on the site of the platform once used by Brixham trains; this is used for carriage repairs. On the same side, beyond the modern bridge carrying the road to
BrixhamBrixham is a small fishing town and civil parish in the county of Devon, in the south-west of England. Brixham is at the southern end of Torbay, across the bay from Torquay, and is a fishing port. Fishing and Tourism are its major industries....
, are some sidings and the turntable. Opposite the carriage workshop, behind the Paignton platform, is another workshop which is used for heavy repairs to locomotives.
The former Railway Hotel at the end of the station approach road is now a pub known as The White Horse but is still welcoming to railway passengers and enthusiasts.
Cultural references
Churston station was the location for the opening scene in
The SystemThe System is a 1964 British drama film directed by Michael Winner and starring Oliver Reed, Jane Merrow, Harry Andrews, David Hemmings, John Alderton and Guy Doleman. Julie Christie was originally intended to be in the film, but she had to withdraw, and was replaced by Julia Foster....
, a 1964 film. Several of the main characters arrive at the last minute and jump onto a
Diesel Multiple UnitA diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple unit train consisting of multiple carriages powered by one or more on-board diesel engines. They may also be referred to as a railcar or railmotor, depending on country.-Design:...
that is just pulling out towards Kingswear. After the opening credits, they then get off a different train at Brixham.
Services
A seasonal service of steam hauled trains operates between and .
Further reading