History
A small station known as Clyst St Mary and Digby Halt was opened by the London and South Western Railway on 1 June 1908 to serve Clyst St Mary and Digby Psychiatric Hospital. The 120 feet (37 m) long platforms were built from old railway sleepers. It was closed by the new British Railways on 27 September 1948.
The present Digby and Sowton station was funded by Devon County Council and Tesco Stores Limited; construction began on 9 November 1994 and it opened on 23 May 1995. It is situated about 380 yards (350 m) south of the site of the old station to serve new housing on the site of the now closed psychiatric hospital, and also a light industrial estate at nearby Sowton.
The station was operated by Wessex Trains, until 31 March 2006 when First Great Western took over the franchise.
The station has been criticised for its location being a compromise between serving the industrial estate of Sowton and the retail development at Digby. By doing so, it has ended up as not being particularly close to either, resulting in a substantial walk to either location, which lie in opposite directions. It is also on a regular basis a victim of vandalism because it is not visible from nearby roads. Extensive CCTV has been installed in an attempt to tackle this problem.
Read more about this topic: Digby And Sowton Railway Station
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