Lyme Regis Branch
Lyme Regis station in September 1965, shortly before closure. photograph by Chris Knowles-Thomas |
| Lyme Regis is one of those towns whose occupants tried for many,
many years to have a railway serve it, but were met with failure after failure
of various schemes put forward. Shortly after the last plea to the L&SWR to
build a line to Lyme had been met with a refusal an independent line, the
Axminster to Lyme Regis Light Railway, was proposed. Authorised on 15th June
1899 the company began construction on 19th June 1900. The line was 5 miles
and 5.6 chains long and terminated at the L&SWR's main line in a bay
platform at Axminster station. Inspected
on 21st August 1903, the line opened to traffic the following Monday, 24th
August. The line's independent years were few, though, as it had financial
difficulties from the start and was bought by the L&SWR for £55,000
worth of their stock on 1st January 1907.
During its early years there was a good amount of goods traffic though passenger numbers were slow to build up. Excursion traffic provided a regular flow of summer passengers though this was halted during WWI and faced road competition shortly after the end of the war. A bad day for the railway was 8th July 1922 when the National Omnibus Company started a route in direct competition between Axminster and Lyme Regis. Following absorbtion into the Southern Railway some increase in excursion traffic follwed together with through carriages to and from Waterloo, introduced for the summer timetable, with a regular Sunday timetable operating for the first time in 1930. |
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A single unit "Bubble Car" sits in the bay platform at
Axminster in September 1965, ready to depart for Exeter Central. The bay was situated on the
north side of the station and once away from the station area the line climbed
at 1 in 80 and swung sharply left on a 10 chain radius to cross over the main
line before heading for Lyme Regis.
photograph by Chris Knowles-Thomas |
| The view from inside the unit as it makes its way down the
branch. As can be seen in this and other photos, this particular day in 1965
was rather wet.
photograph by Chris Knowles-Thomas |
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Combpyne station as seen from an approaching train. On the far
side of the very grassy platform was the loop, removed in 1930, and beyond that
a siding that was taken out of use in 1960.
photograph by Chris Knowles-Thomas |
| Another view of the station buildings at Combpyne. These were
slightly unusual in their situation in that they were set back from the line
with some distance bewteen them and the platform, which in turn was the other
side of the loop road/siding.
photograph by Chris Knowles-Thomas |
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There was just one notable feature on the line and that was
Cannington Viaduct. This was up to
93 feet above the ground below, 203 yards long and with ten arches, the lowest
of which was some 53 feet high.
photograph by Chris Knowles-Thomas |
| The view looking through the gate to the cattle dock, now
deprived of any track, with the ex-Signalbox on view in the background. The
engine shed had been further from the station to the right of the line.
photograph by Chris Knowles-Thomas |
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The single unit diesel railcar in the platform with no
destination showing on its blind. The trackwork by 1965 had been severely
reduced as there had been a run-round loop and three sidings on the empty
ground beyond this train.
photograph by Chris Knowles-Thomas |
| A view of the Lyme Regis ex-Signalbox. No longer in use for that
purpose as the line had been reduced to one engine in steam operation from
1960. Compare this photograph with the one here to see how the track layout
had been rationalised by this time.
photograph by Chris Knowles-Thomas |
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Another view of the ex-Signalbox with the station beyond. The
road to the cattle dock ran behind the 'box, before it was lifted, as can
just be seen in the photographed linked from the one above.
photograph by Chris Knowles-Thomas |
All photographs are copyright
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This page was created 12 May 2010
