Feniton railway station serves the village of Feniton in Devon, England. It was opened by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) in 1860 but is now operated by South Western Railway which provides services on the West of England Main Line. It is down the line from .

History

thumb|left|Local railway lines

The station was designed by William Tite and was opened by the LSWR on 19 July 1860, along with its Exeter Extension from to Exeter Queen Street. It was named Feniton after the nearest village, but less than a year later it was renamed (on 1 July 1861) as Ottery and Sidmouth Road. In February 1868 this was changed again to Feniton for Ottery St Mary. On 6 July 1874 a branch line to was opened and the station changed its name once more to become Sidmouth Junction, a name that it managed to retain for more than 90 years.

On 1 May 1897 a new line to was opened and this was extended on 1 June 1903 to . Although the junction for this line was at , Sidmouth Junction was the de facto junction as it was situated on the London main line. A third platform was provided to accommodate branch line trains; this was a terminal bay at the Yeovil end of the westbound platform. It was on this platform that the main two-storey building was situated.

The station is also served by a single weekday peak hour service from to which is operated by Great Western Railway.

Due to the short platform at this station, passengers wishing to alight need to be in the front 3 coaches of the train as the platform can only take 3-car trains.

Signalling

The station was built next to the level crossing of the Ottery Road which was operated by the station staff. A signal box was provided in 1875 at the east end of the station on the north side of the line, opposite goods yard. Because it was too far from the level crossing a small signal box was provided at that end of the station to control the level crossing. The main signal box was closed on 21 May 1967 but the level crossing box was retained. The line through the station reduced to just a single track on 11 June 1967. In 1974 the level crossing gates were replaced by lifting barriers; the level crossing box was abolished at the same time and the barriers were operated from a panel within the station building until March 2012 when signalling and level crossing control was transferred to Basingstoke Area Signalling Centre.

See also

  • Southern Railway routes west of Salisbury

References

  • Subterranea Britannica site record for Sidmouth Junction station