Operations
When the branch opened there were six return journeys every weekday—eight from 1907; in 1908 there were nine, of which two were goods trains and one was mixed. Summer Sunday trains were put on from 1930, and this peaked at eleven in 1938. The winter Sunday service was discontinued in 1951.
During the post-war years, the branch engines alternated, returning to and from Exmouth Junction locomotive shed (near Exeter) piloting a scheduled main line passenger or goods train. At the weekend in summer, the second engine arrived in time to assist with the heavy traffic. Through carriages from and to London trains were marshalled at Axminster, and both locomotives operated heavier trains—up to six coaches—over the branch itself.
As mentioned above, Combpyne was provided with a signal box from July 1906; Phillips refers to the station having a single platform, but also a passing loop. The signal box was closed—actually reduced to ground frame status—from 12 August 1921 and the loop became a siding.
Maggs says that this took place on 17 June 1930 and Mitchell and Smith say that the signal box and the northern points were removed in 1930 and the loop became single ended.
On 27 March 1960, the signalling system on the line reverted to "one engine in steam", with the Lyme Regis signal box being reduced to ground frame status.
Read more about this topic: Lyme Regis Branch Line
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