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West of England Main Line
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Everything about The West Of England Main Line totally explainedThe West of England Main Line is the British railway line from London Waterloo to Exeter St Davids. Historically, the main line continued to Plymouth via Okehampton and competed for the lucrative Atlantic Boat Train traffic.
The main towns served by the route are listed below. The line between London and Basingstoke is part of the South Western Main Line.
Much of the original Plymouth route still exists, however approximately twenty miles across Dartmoor between Okehampton and Bere Alston has been closed along with a suburban stretch in Plymouth that ran parallel to the GWML.
Original London and South Western main line formations
When all routes had been incorporated into the London and South Western Railway, this section of the network consisted of the various sections and stations listed below.
Basingstoke to Exeter
Basingstoke to Salisbury
Intermediate branches were built to serve the following places between Basingstoke and Salisbury.
Between Salisbury and Exeter on the main line; the sections were opened as follows:
Intermediate branches were built to serve the following places between Salisbury and Exeter.
- branch to Yeovil Town joint station with the GWR
- branch to Chard joint station with the GWR
- branch to Lyme Regis from Axminster
- branch to Seaton from Seaton Junction (closed)
- branch to Sidmouth from Sidmouth Junction (also alternative route to Exmouth)
- branch to Exmouth from Exmouth Junction near Exeter
The L&SWR West of England Main Line continued from Exeter to Plymouth Friary railway station via Okehampton and Bere Alston via a scenic route across Dartmoor incorporating several viaducts and spectacular views. The line was closed as a through route in 1968 and a twenty mile section between Meldon Viaduct near Okehampton and Bere Alston lifted. The line to Okehampton was closed in 1972 and only freight remained to Meldon Quarry.
At the southern end, the line's terminus, Plymouth Friary, was closed in 1954 and ten years later the line between Plymouth and St Budeaux Victoria Road was closed, with trains diverted over a spur dating from World War 2 onto the Great Western Main Line to Plymouth. The line remained open as far as Bere Alston as part of a branch service to Gunnislake now known as the Tamar Valley Line.
The freight only northern end of the route, from Crediton to a new station at Meldon Quarry, was recently reopened by the Dartmoor Railway. Trains currently run from Exeter Central to the restored Okehampton station on summer Sundays only with a shuttle service from Sampford Courtenay to Meldon Quarry on other days. However in 2008, the Dartmoor Railway hopes to re-open the Okehampton platform at Yeoford and provide more frequent services connecting with Tarka Line trains to Exeter at Yeoford. In addition there are plans to reopen North Tawton and build a new Parkway station at Okehampton East. South of Meldon Quarry, the line has been reopened to Lydford as a cycle path and includes the spectacular Meldon and Lake Viaducts.
Congestion on the A386 road has led to plans for reopening between Bere Alston and a new station in the south of Tavistock, arguably the largest town in Devon without a rail service, a project known as the Drake Line. This will see frequent services from Tavistock to Plymouth, probably hourly, with trains as often as every 30 minutes in the peak, with a branch shuttle service from Bere Alston to Gunnislake, a reversion to the service pattern before the main line closed. Although Gunnislake will lose through services to Plymouth, this will be compensated for by provision of an hourly service, double the present frequency, with connections to both Tavistock and Plymouth.
Calls have been made for reopening of the full line, to provide an alternative route between Exeter and Plymouth, not least because the GWML runs along the sea wall at Dawlish and has been prone to disruption during stormy weather in the past. However nothing has come of such calls as yet.
The conversion of much of the route to a cycle path (between Meldon and Lydford and in Tavistock), which has involved significant restoration of several viaducts including the spectacular, steel, Meldon viaduct, will secure much of the route in the event of any future potential reopening, as the formation is double track and therefore the cyclepath could share the formation with a single line railway, as is already the case between Okehampton and Meldon Quarry.
The cyclepath has ensured restoration of four of the viaducts on the closed section, Meldon, Lake, Wallabrook and Tavistock viaducts, all of which are now open as part of the cycleway, the other two, Lydford and Shillamill, south of Tavistock, remain intact, a testament to their granite stone construction. Should the line ever reopen, these six viaducts plus the spectacular viaducts bridging the Rivers Tavy and Tamerton, south of Bere Alston and the splendid views over Dartmoor, would ensure a route that would rival the Settle to Carlisle Line for scenic beauty.
The West of England Main line, west of Exeter, had several branches leading from it. These, on a map, looked like gnarled fingers and the LSWR network west of Exeter became known as the Withered Arm. The branches served the following places:
The Tarka Line To Barnstaple. From Barnstaple Junction station were the now closed branches to Torrington via Bideford, Ilfracombe and, from the first station on the Ilfracombe Branch, Barnstaple Town, the famous narrow gauge Lynton and Barnstaple Railway, long closed but now being partially restored.
The closed branch to Hallwill Junction Station, where three branches radiated to Bude, Padstow via Launceston and Torrington.
The Tamar Valley Line to Callington, now closed beyond Gunnislake.
The, now closed, short suburban branch from Plymouth Friary to Turnchapel
Current operations
DMU 159001 approaches Axminster station from the North]]
Passenger services are currently operated by South West Trains using Class 159 and Class 158 trains. Currently trains run half hourly from London to Salisbury, hourly to Yeovil Junction and two hourly to Exeter. There are proposals to double the frequency to Exeter (External Link); however, in the 1960s the route was controversially reduced from double to single track and the long single track section between Yeovil and Exeter limits capacity. Any increase in service frequency would therefore require the construction of new passing loops (possibly at Whimple and/or Axminster, according to local media reports).
The line isn't electrified (except for the SWML portion).
Services
The typical off peak services are:
1tp2h to Salisbury calling at all stations
1tp2h to Gillingham calling at all stations
1tp2h to Yeovil Junction which runs fast between Basingstoke and Salisbury only calling at Andover
1tp2h to Exeter St. Davids
- Some of these trains continue to Plymouth by reversing here.
Between London Waterloo and Basingstoke, trains call at Clapham Junction and Woking.
Further Information
Get more info on 'West Of England Main Line'.
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