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Railway Day Trips: 160 classic train journeys around Britain

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Год написания книги
2019
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NUMBER OF CHANGES: 0

The tastefully restored station at Okehampton is served by trains from Exeter on summer Sundays.

EXETER TO EXMOUTH

This scenic seaside branch line that runs alongside the east shore of the Exe Estuary was opened in 1861. An extension from Exmouth to Budleigh Salterton and Sidmouth Junction was opened in 1903 but this route became a victim of the ‘Beeching Axe’ in 1967. Trains for Exmouth depart from Exeter Central station and follow the route of the main line to Salisbury as far as Exmouth Junction. Here the Exmouth branch diverges southwards through Polsloe Bridge and Digby & Sowton stations before meeting the coast at Topsham. The line is marketed as the ‘Avocet Line’, so named after the pied avocet that live on the estuary, and has seen large increases in passenger usage in recent years, with Exmouth station being the fifth busiest in Devon.

At Topsham station there is a passing loop, which enables trains to run at 30-minute intervals. From here the coast-hugging line passes through Exton and Lympstone Commando stations, both request stops, and after halting at Lympstone Village station continues down the coast to terminate at Exmouth. With a population of over 35,000 this seaside resort town has much to offer the day tripper, from its fascinating architecture and promenade to beaches and water-sports facilities. A passenger ferry operates from Easter to October across the Exe Estuary – a Site of Special Scientific Interest noted for its migrating and wading birds – to Starcross, where a train can be caught back to Exeter.

DESTINATION HIGHLIGHTS

passenger ferry to Starcross; promenade and 2-mile sandy beach; water sports; South West Coast Path; bird watching on Exe Estuary; 18th-century A La Ronde (NT); railway path to Knowle

FREQUENCY OF TRAINS

2 per hour

10½ MILES 25 MINUTES

NUMBER OF CHANGES: 0

Colourful modern apartments overlook the harbour in the popular seaside resort of Exmouth.

EXETER TO SALISBURY

This is a lovely day trip along the former London & South Western Railway’s switchback main line (opened in 1860) through the rolling East Devon, Dorset and Wiltshire countryside to the historic cathedral city of Salisbury. Trains leave Exeter Central station and head east to Pinhoe from where the railway is single track as far as Yeovil Junction. Trains call at Whimple and Feniton en route before arriving at the picturesque market town of Honiton, once a centre of the lace-making industry. Here there is a passing loop, and a short distance to the east the railway reaches its first summit before plunging into 1,345-yd Honiton Tunnel to race downhill to the former carpet-making town of Axminster and another passing loop. Here, branch line trains used to wend their way up to Lyme Regis station until closure in 1965. Beyond Axminster the railway heads through the closed Chard Junction station, where there is a further passing loop, and up to Hewish Summit and the 206-yd Crewkerne Tunnel before arriving at Crewkerne station which, like many of the stations along this route, is some distance from the town centre. At Yeovil Junction the railway becomes double track again as far as Templecombe, with an intermediate stop at Sherborne.

Templecombe station closed in 1966 along with the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway from Bath to Bournemouth but reopened following strong local community pressure in 1983 and is now used by around 100,000 passengers each year. East of Templecombe the single-track railway heads through Buckhorn Weston Tunnel, Gillingham and Tisbury stations (where there are passing loops) before joining the ex-GWR line from Westbury at Wilton Junction. From here it is but a short ride into Salisbury station from where the city’s famous sites such as the magnificent cathedral with its 404-ft-high spire, the 14th-century city walls with their 5 gates and the landscaped water meadows alongside the River Avon can all be explored on foot.

DESTINATION HIGHLIGHTS

13th-century cathedral and Britain’s oldest working clock; city walls and 5 gates; riverside walks; Queen Elizabeth Gardens; Poultry Cross Market (Tues and Sat); Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum inc Pitt Rivers Collection

FREQUENCY OF TRAINS

1 per hour

88 MILES 1 HOUR 50 MINUTES

NUMBER OF CHANGES: 0

One of the finest medieval buildings in Britain, Salisbury Cathedral also has the highest spire of any church in the country.

TAUNTON TO MINEHEAD

Opened between 1862 and 1874, the long branch line from Taunton to Minehead became a victim of Dr Beeching’s Axe when it was closed in 1971. However, with the support of Somerset County Council and hundreds, if not thousands, of volunteers and well-wishers the majority of this picturesque line, with its ten delightfully restored stations, was reopened as a heritage railway between 1976 and 1979. Today the West Somerset Railway (WSR) is Britain’s longest and one of the most successful standard-gauge heritage lines, with hundreds of thousands of visitors bringing a much-needed boost to the local tourist industry.

While restored vintage steam and diesel trains operate for much of the year between Minehead and Bishops Lydeard, the section south of here to the former junction with the ex-Great Western Railway’s Taunton to Exeter main line at Norton Fitzwarren sees only occasional use, and beyond here WSR trains are unable to reach Taunton. However, a connecting bus service operates between Taunton station and Bishops Lydeard station thus allowing this particular trip to be made without reverting to car travel.

From Bishops Lydeard station the WSR climbs up through the bucolic Somerset countryside, overlooked from the west by the Brendon Hills and from the east by the Quantocks. Occasional thatched cottages and burbling streams are glimpsed from the train as it proceeds slowly on its journey, pausing at Crowcombe Heathfield and Stogumber stations, to Williton where the railway has its restoration workshops. North of here the Bristol Channel is first glimpsed at Doniford Beach Halt before the line swings west to the historic harbour town of Watchet. It then climbs inland via Washford, where there is a railway museum, before rejoining the coastline at Blue Anchor, a favourite haunt of mobile holiday homes and caravans. The final leg of this superb trip offers fine views over the Channel to South Wales and inland to Dunster Castle and the wooded Brendon Hills, before ending close to the seafront at the popular seaside resort of Minehead.

DESTINATION HIGHLIGHTS

railway museums (Bishops Lydeard and Blue Anchor); Watchet Harbour; Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust (Washford); Dunster Castle and village; Minehead Harbour; open-top bus trips to Exmoor (Minehead, summer); South West Coast Path

FREQUENCY

Taunton to Bishops Lydeard: 2 buses per hour (Mon-Sat) 1 bus per hour (Sun) Bishops Lydeard to Minehead: 4-7 trains per day (March-end Oct, Christmas week and New Year’s Day)

24 MILES 20 MINUTES (BUS) + 1 HOUR 20 MINUTES (TRAIN)

NUMBER OF CHANGES: 1

(Bishops Lydeard)

A restored GWR small prairie tank steams towards Roebuck Lane level crossing on the West Somerset Railway with a train for Minehead.

TAUNTON TO EXETER

Engineered by Brunel, the main line between Taunton and Exeter was opened by the broad-gauge Bristol & Exeter Railway in 1844. The line was rebuilt with mixed-gauge track in 1876 when the company was also amalgamated with the Great Western Railway – the broad gauge was eliminated in 1892. Today trains can operate along this route up to a maximum speed of 100 mph and as there is only one intermediate station at Tiverton Parkway journey times are fairly rapid. Prior to the wholesale closures of the 1960s there were 9 intermediate stations and 5 branch lines (to Minehead, Barnstaple, Hemyock, Tiverton and Dulverton) along this stretch.

Trains for Exeter head off in a southwesterly direction from Taunton station and soon pass the new triangular junction laid at Norton Fitzwarren for the West Somerset Railway (#u60620ac9-ca7a-5205-8f51-714e9c87342a). The railway then climbs up the 1-in-80 gradient of Wellington Bank to the 1,092-yd Whiteball Tunnel and the summit of the line – it was down this bank that GWR 4-4-0 No. 3440 ‘City of Truro’ was apparently timed at 100 mph while hauling an ‘Ocean Mails’ special from Plymouth to London in 1904. Although there has been much debate about this feat it is highly likely that this was the first time that a steam train achieved this speed anywhere in the world.

From Whiteball Summit trains coast down to a stop at Tiverton Parkway station before descending into the lush valley of the River Exe to Cowley Bridge Junction. This infamous spot, the junction for the ‘Tarka Line’ to Barnstaple (#u29f7cb96-3c50-51ba-b37f-1c2501d04ca0), is regularly flooded during periods of heavy rainfall, causing major disruption to services into Devon and Cornwall. Exeter St Davids station follows soon afterwards, from where visitors to the city centre can catch a connecting train up to Central station.

DESTINATION HIGHLIGHTS

12th-century cathedral; 11th-century Rougemont Castle; Danes Castle; St Nicholas Priory and Garden; Exeter Canal basin and riverside walks; 17th-century Butts Ferry; Royal Albert Memorial Museum; Spacex art gallery

FREQUENCY OF TRAINS

2 per hour

30¾ MILES 30 MINUTES

NUMBER OF CHANGES: 1

(Exeter St Davids)

The restored Exeter Canal in Exeter. Beyond is Exeter Cathedral which was completed in 1400.

TAUNTON TO BRISTOL

The first section of Brunel’s broad-gauge Bristol & Exeter Railway opened from Bristol to Taunton in 1842 and until the opening of the cut-off line through Castle Cary and Langport in 1906 was the only railway route between London (Paddington) and the southwest. The original route via Bristol was nicknamed the ‘Great Way Round’ (using the initials of the Great Western Railway) that had taken over the B&ER in 1876. Broad-gauge trains ceased to run in 1892 when the whole route was converted to standard gauge.

Today’s trains head eastward out of Taunton’s busy main-line station and soon pass Cogload Junction, where there is a flyover for trains to and from the Castle Cary line. The first intermediate station on this trip is at Bridgwater and from here the main line heads north in a straight line for 13 miles across the Somerset Levels through Highbridge & Burnham station to Uphill Junction. Here, local stopping trains diverge to take the longer single-track loop line via the resort of Weston-super-Mare before rejoining the main line at Worle Junction. They then head inland through a gap in the Mendip Hills through Worle, Yatton, Nailsea & Backwell and Parson Street stations before ending their journey at the imposing overall-roofed 13-platform Bristol Temple Meads station. Brunel’s original train shed, once the terminus of his broad-gauge line from Paddington, still survives and is currently used as a car park. A good bus service connects the station with Bristol’s many attractions including the new city-centre shopping mall, historic docks, zoo and Clifton Gorge with its magnificent suspension bridge.

DESTINATION HIGHLIGHTS
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