Lympstone Commando railway station is a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

situated on the

Avocet Line The Avocet Line is the railway line in Devon, England connecting Exeter with Exmouth. It was originally built by the London and South Western Railway, and was historically known as the Exmouth branch railway. The line follows the Exe Estuary ...

, a branch line from

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

Exmouth Exmouth is a port town, civil parish and seaside resort, sited on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe and southeast of Exeter. In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the 5th most populous settlement in Devon. Hi ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

, England. The station is for the exclusive use of visitors to the

Royal Marine The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...

Commando Training Centre at

Lympstone Lympstone is a village and civil parish in East Devon in the English county of Devon. It has a population of 1,754. There is a harbour on the estuary of the River Exe, lying at the outlet of Wotton Brook between cliffs of red breccia.

. Access is through a locked gate although there is a public foot and cycle path alongside the station which separates it from the commando base.

History

The station was opened on 3 May 1976 by

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British ra ...

. This caused some confusion with the older Lympstone railway station, but this has since been renamed "Lympstone Village". It was built using cast platform sections recovered from

Weston Milton railway station Weston Milton railway station serves the Milton and Locking Castle areas of Weston-super-Mare in North Somerset, England. It is situated on a loop off the Bristol to Taunton Line, from the zero point at via Box. History The station was op ...

where the track had been singled and so one platform was no longer needed. For many years troop trains were a feature of its operation about three times each year. The trains were operated with a locomotive at each end as there is no way to run around a train south of Topsham; the leading locomotive on arrival was dragged back to Exeter Central where it was detached. The trains were considerably longer than the platform and loading the passengers was a slow operation as they had to make their way through the train from the centre coaches. A similar operation today is difficult to arrange as the regular timetabled passenger service is much more intensive than in the 1980s. During November 2020 the platform was extended by to make it long.

Description

The station is situated on the banks of the estuary of the

River Exe The River Exe ( ) in England rises at Exe Head, near the village of Simonsbath, on Exmoor in Somerset, from the Bristol Channel coast, but flows more or less directly due south, so that most of its length lies in Devon. It flows for 60 mile ...

. It consists of a single platform, which is on the left of trains arriving from Exeter. On 28 May 2010 a section of the Exe Estuary Trail opened between Lympstone village and Exton. This runs between the platform and the entrance to the campSe
Geograph photograph
/ref> so the public can now access the station, although the sign on the platform still remains stating “persons alighting here must have business with the camp”. The

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

have accepted that the station is the property of

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's len ...

and as such they cannot prohibit members of the public from using the station - however, persons wishing to take photographs from the platform should inform the Guard Room at the Commando Training Centre beforehand.

Services

About half the trains on the

between and call at Lympstone Commando. It is a request stop, meaning that passengers alighting here must tell the conductor that they wish to do so, and those waiting to join must signal clearly to the driver as the train approaches.

References

External links

Photographs of Lympstone Commando by Owen Dunn
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lympstone Commando Railway Station Railway stations in Devon Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1976 Railway stations opened by British Rail Private railway stations Railway stations served by Great Western Railway Railway request stops in Great Britain Woodbury, East Devon DfT Category F2 stations