Southern Railway Routes West of Salisbury - Exeter and North Devon

Exeter and North Devon

The L&SWR was building a line to a station central to the city, at Queen Street, but westward extension seemed to be blocked by the Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) and South Devon Railway (SDR) line ran north-south below it. However an agreement was made with the broad gauge companies on 14 March 1860 to extend the line from Queen Street down to the St Davids station; the B&ER would lay mixed gauge at the station and on to Cowley Bridge Junction, where the Crediton line diverged. The B&ER agreed to facilitate the operation of L&SWR trains with minimal restrictions; the L&SWR had to stop every train at St Davids, however.

The line descended to St Davids at a gradient of 1 in 37, with a 184 yard tunnel, and special precautions were taken in operation on this incline. The connecting line cost £19,5550 and it was opened on 1 February 1862.

Long before this, seeing a strategic advantage in developing territory in Devon, the L&SWR took a great interest in local railways being promoted between Exeter and North Devon. When the Taw Vale Extension Railway (TVER) was promoted and obtained its Act of Parliament for construction in 1846, the L&SWR bought shares in the adjacent Exeter & Crediton Railway (E&CR), and in 1847 the L&SWR concluded a lease of the TVER which itself leased the E&CR. When the lines finally opened on 1 August 1854 the L&SWR had control of a railway from Exeter to Fremington, just beyond Barnstaple. However these had been required by the Board of Trade to be on the broad gauge, so for the time being the L&SWR had to arrange for the Bristol & Exeter Railway to work its trains for it. After the L&SWR reached Exeter, an arbitration award required the Bristol & Exeter to lay mixed gauge track from Exeter St Davids to Cowley Bridge Junction, and permitted the L&SWR to run standard gauge trains to Crediton from 1862 and throughout to Fremington from 1863.

The Bideford Extension Railway built a line from Fremington to Bideford, opened in 1855, worked by the L&SWR on the broad gauge with B&E trains until 1863.

The L&SWR extended the Bideford line to Torrington, after local pressure to fulfil an earlier undertaking, opening in 1872.

These developments are more fully described in the article North Devon Railway.

Extension of the line from Barnstaple to Ilfracombe took place in 1874. The route was very difficult and involved steep gradients and sharp curves.