The Exe Valley Railway was a

branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industr ...

built by the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 mill ...

(GWR) in

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. Devon is ...

, England, to link its Bristol to Exeter line with its Devon and Somerset Railway (D&SR), thereby connecting

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 c ...

with (which is in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

). The line was in use from 1884 until 1964.

History

The first part of the line to be built was the Tiverton and North Devon Railway, which ran from the D&SR at south to . It opened on 1 August 1884. The Exe Valley Railway itself started from the Exeter main line at and ran northwards to Tiverton. This opened on 1 May 1885. Services generally ran through from Dulverton to . Trains could not stop at Stoke Canon station as the junction was built south of the station which had been opened on the main line in 1852. This was rectified in 1894 when a new station was built to the south of the junction. As with Stoke Canon, trains could not call at as the station was on the wrong side of the junction, but in 1928 a station was opened at the junction. In 1890, Mrs Towns was appointed signalwoman at Morebath Junction. She is the only recorded example of a signalwoman on any railway in Britain in the 19th century. In October 1913, the ''

Railway Magazine ''The Railway Magazine'' is a monthly British railway magazine, aimed at the railway enthusiast market, that has been published in London since July 1897. it was, for three years running, the railway magazine with the largest circulation in ...

'' reported that she was "very proud" of her job after 23 years service and hoped to continue indefinitely. On 1 January 1948, the GWR was

nationalised Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

to become the

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 on completion of the "Organising for Quality" initiative on 6 April 1992. The Region consisted principally of ex-Great We ...

. Stoke Canon station closed in 1960 and passenger trains were withdrawn from the line from 7 October 1963, although goods trains continued to run to Thorverton until 4 May 1964.

Stations

The stations are described from north to south. They all closed on 7 October 1963 unless stated otherwise.

Bampton

Bampton station opened on 1 August 1884 on the west side of Bampton. South West England. It was a passing place so had two platforms for passengers and also a

goods shed A 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 buil ...

. It dispatched a lot of stone from local quarries. It was renamed "Bampton (Devon)" in June 1911 to avoid confusion with another GWR Bampton station in Oxfordshire. After the line closed the station was demolished, and the cutting in which it was situated was largely filled in.

Cove Halt

This was the first of the small stations that were opened along the line during the 1920s. A siding had been provided when the line opened near the

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass An overpass (called ...

in the village of

Cove A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. Coves usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are of ...

, and a simple platform with a corrugated iron ''pagoda'' shelter was opened for passengers on 9 June 1924. The level crossing keeper had a cottage and small signal cabin, both of which have survived as a house.

Bolham Halt

Another small station, this concrete platform was opened on 23 April 1928. It had a corrugated iron shelter with a simple sloping roof. It served the village of Bolham.

Tiverton

The station at Tiverton opened in 1848 as the terminus station of a

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

branch line from the Bristol and Exeter main line at . It was reconstructed with extra platforms in the 1880s to accommodate the Exe Valley trains. After the closure of the Stoke Canon to Morebath line, Tiverton continued to be served from Tiverton Junction until 5 October 1964 (passengers) and 5 June 1967 (goods).

West Exe Halt

This station was opened on 19 March 1928 to serve the western side of Tiverton and Heathcoat's Mill, a major employer in the town. It was equipped with a wooden shelter, and the original platform was almost doubled in length in May 1937. It was generally unstaffed, but at busy times a porter was sometimes sent from Tiverton to collect and sell tickets Tiverton station continued to be served from until 5 October 1964 (passengers) and 5 June 1967 (goods).

Cadeleigh

This station opened on 1 May 1885 to serve the villages of Cadeleigh and Bickleigh and was therefore known as 'Cadeleigh and Bickleigh' until 1 May 1906 when it was changed to just 'Cadeleigh'. As a passing place it had two platforms and also a busy goods yard. After the railway was closed it was used by the county council, but in 1997 it was sold and is now used as the Devon Railway Centre.

Burn Halt

This small platform with a wooden shelter was opened on 26 January 1929 to serve Burn Farm and the parish of Butterleigh.

Up Exe

When the line opened in 1885 a platform was provided on the east side of the track near the hamlet of Up Exe with the name 'Up Exe and Silverton', although a Silverton railway station already existed on the Bristol to Exeter line to serve that village. From 1 May 1905 the Exe Valley station was renamed 'Up Exe'. It was provided with a small stone building for passenger use and a house for the station master, although it never had a goods yard. A small signal box was provided next to the level crossing. From 1 October 1923 the staff were withdrawn from the station and it was designated 'Up Exe Halt'. The station master's house was then used by the level crossing keeper, and the station buildings became a house while the passengers were given a small iron shelter. Both the house remained in use as such after the closure of the line.

Thorverton

The station serving Thorverton village opened with the railway in 1885. Two platforms were provided as it was a passing place. The main buildings and goods yard were on the southbound side, while a wooden shelter was provided on the opposite platform for passengers travelling towards Tiverton. The station master had a house to the north of the station. The village was not on a main road and had no bus service with the result that the station was one of the best-used on the line and also generated a lot of freight due to nearby Thorverton Mill, a watermill that was connected to the station by a siding.

Camp coach Camping coaches were holiday accommodation offered by many railway companies in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland from the 1930s. The coaches were old passenger vehicles no longer suitable for use in trains, which were converted to ...

es were based here from 1936 to 1939 which provided accommodation for holiday visitors. Thorverton closed to passenger traffic with the rest of the Exe Valley line on 7 October 1963. Goods traffic ceased on 4 May 1964. Both the station and the stationmaster's house remain in use as houses, the former extended using stone from the demolished goods shed.

Brampford Speke

The station at Brampford Speke was a single platform on the west side of the line that opened with the line in 1885. Unusually there was no road access, passengers reached the station via a footpath from the village. It was provided with the usual building for passengers and a house for the station master. It had a signal box until 1907 but never any goods yard. It was closed for the whole of 1917 and 1918 as a wartime economy measure. From 1 October 1923 the staff were withdrawn and the station designated 'Brampford Speke Halt'. As at Up Exe, the station building became a house and passengers used an iron shelter instead. Both this and the station master's house continue to be used as private houses. As of 2021-07-05, this was listed as on sale, and the original station can still be clearly distinguished.

Services

This example timetable shows the weekday passenger services in October 1920 (there was no service on Sundays).

References

Bibliography

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