Axminster railway station

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Axminster
Location
Place	Axminster
Local authority	East Devon
Operations
Managed by	South West Trains
Platforms in use	1
Annual entry/exit	0.167 million *
History
Key dates	Opened 19 July 1860
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* based on sales of tickets in 2002/03 financial year which end or originate at Axminster. Disclaimer (PDF)

Axminster railway station serves the town of Axminster in East Devon.

The station was opened on 19 July 1860, with the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) offering direct services between Queen Street Station in Exeter and 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 1960's 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.

In 1903, the branch line from Axminster to Lyme Regis 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 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, in Sussex, while Lyme Regis station has been dismantled and reconstructed at New Alresford, on the Watercress Line, in Hampshire.

A few miles to the west of Axminster on the main line lies Seaton Junction station just to the west near the village of Shute. Branch line services to Colyton and Seaton 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 3 mile passing loop through the station (reports in the Express and Echo) along with another at Whimple to enable a more frequent service to Exeter.