The Lyme Regis branch line was a railway branch line connecting the seaside town of Lyme Regis with the main line railway network at Axminster, running through picturesque rural countryside on the Dorset - Devon border.
It opened in 1903; penetrating difficult topography, the line was very steeply graded and sharply curved; on summer weekends high passenger levels were carried, with through carriages from London on many services. The line achieved high levels of interest among railway enthusiasts in later years because a veteran type of steam engine, the Adams 'Radial' Tank 4-4-2T locomotive, was used to handle this traffic; this engine class survived long after the type had been superseded in its original area of use in the London suburbs.
With the decline in usage of rural lines, the branch closed in 1965.
Read more about Lyme Regis Branch Line: Origins, The Route, Locomotives, Operations, Cannington Viaduct, Track, Closure, Gallery, Further Reading
Famous quotes containing the words branch and/or line:
“In communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we move from the passive voice to the active voice—that is, until we have stopped saying “It got lost,” and say, “I lost it.””
—Sydney J. Harris (b. 1917)