Exmouth Branch Railway
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Exmouth Branch Railway
The Avocet Line is the railway line in Devon, England connecting Exeter with Exmouth. It was originally built by the London and South Western Railway, and was historically known as the Exmouth branch railway. The line follows the Exe Estuary for about half of its route, from just outside Topsham (on the Exmouth end) to Exmouth, giving views of the estuary. The line is named after the pied avocet, which lives in the estuary. History The line was constructed in 1861, connecting the City of Exeter and the port town of Exmouth, in England. It was built in two portions by two railway companies, but worked as a single entity. A series of false starts The City of Exeter lies on the river Exe in Devon, but the river is not navigable as far as the city. Exmouth, eleven miles further south on the east bank of the river at its mouth became important before the days of railways and reliable roads as the point of arrival for goods by coastal shipping, and the harbour there grew in importan ...
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River Exe
The River Exe ( ) in England rises at Exe Head, near the village of Simonsbath, on Exmoor in Somerset, from the Bristol Channel coast, but flows more or less directly due south, so that most of its length lies in Devon. It flows for 60 miles (96 km) and reaches the sea at a substantial ria, the Exe Estuary, on the south (English Channel) coast of Devon. Historically, its lowest bridging point was the Old Exe Bridge in Exeter, the largest settlement on the river, but there is now a viaduct for the M5 motorway about south of the city centre. Topography The river's name derives from *Uɨsk, a Common Brittonic root meaning "abounding in fish", and a cognate of both the Irish ''iasc'', meaning "fish", and ''pysg'', the plural word for "fish" in Welsh. The same root separately developed into the English Axe and Esk, the Welsh Usk, though not, as some have claimed, the word ''whisky'', this latter being from the Classical Irish/Gaelic "water" (the fuller phrase being ; ...
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Pied Avocet
The pied avocet (''Recurvirostra avosetta'') is a large black and white wader in the avocet and stilt family, Recurvirostridae. They breed in temperate Europe and across the Palearctic to Central Asia then on to the Russian Far East. It is a migratory species and most winter in Africa or southern Asia. Some remain to winter in the mildest parts of their range, for example in southern Spain and southern England. The pied avocet is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. Taxonomy The pied avocet was one of the many bird species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', where it was given the binomial name of ''Recurvirostra avosetta''. This species gets its English and scientific names from the Venetian word ''avosetta''. It appeared first in Ulisse Aldrovandi's ''Ornithologia'' (1603). While the name may refer to black and white outfits once wor ...
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Newcourt Railway Station (England)
Newcourt railway station is the newest railway station on the Avocet Line, serving the Newcourt area of Exeter, United Kingdom. The station is sited between and and was opened to passenger traffic on 4 June 2015. The station is managed and operated by Great Western Railway. History Following meetings in September and November 2010, a masterplan for the redevelopment of the Newcourt area of Exeter prepared by Atkins was approved by Exeter City Council as a Supplementary Planning Document. The masterplan set out the basis upon which an area of land to the east of Exeter city centre bounded by Topsham Road to the south west, the A379 to the north and Rydon Lane to the west could be sustainably developed to provide of employment land and 3,500 dwellings. As the masterplan did not assess the transport implications of the proposed development, a supplementary report was published in January 2011 by Devon County Council which identified rail transport as having the greatest pote ...
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Exmouth & Sidmouth 1908
Exmouth is a port town, civil parish and seaside resort, sited on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe and southeast of Exeter. In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the 5th most populous settlement in Devon. History Byzantine coins with the mark of Anastasius I, dating back to c. 498–518, were retrieved from the beach in 1970. More recent human occupation of Exmouth Point can be traced back to the 11th century,The route book of Devon, Publisher Besley, 1870, Publisher: Oxford University when it was known as Lydwicnaesse, "the point of the Bretons". The two ecclesiastical parishes, Littleham and Withycombe Raleigh, that make up the town of Exmouth today can be traced to pre-Saxon times. The name of the town derives from its location at the mouth of the River Exe estuary, which ultimately comes from an ancient Celtic word for fish. For centuries, the parishes were within East Budleigh Hundred. In 1240 an area known as Pratteshuthe (Pratt’s landi ...
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Sidmouth Railway
The Sidmouth Railway was a railway branch line that ran from a junction at Feniton to Sidmouth, connecting the resort to the main line network. History The London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) opened a main line from Yeovil to Exeter on 18 July 1860, giving a through route from London. The rugged terrain of the south-east Devon coastline meant that the railway passed some distance to the north of Sidmouth; the nearest station was Feniton, nine miles away. There had been a number of railway schemes put forward over the previous decade or so to serve Sidmouth directly but they had come to nothing. Planning On 18 December 1861, London promoters held a meeting for the purpose of forming a Company to build a railway branch line to Sidmouth and a harbour there. The "Sidmouth Railway and Harbour Company" obtained an Act of Parliament on 7 August 1862 with a share capital of £120,000 and authorised loan capital of £40,000. Subscriptions were slow to be taken up, and the contracto ...
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Exmouth Branch 1903
Exmouth is a port town, civil parish and seaside resort, sited on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe and southeast of Exeter. In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the 5th most populous settlement in Devon. History Byzantine coins with the mark of Anastasius I, dating back to c. 498–518, were retrieved from the beach in 1970. More recent human occupation of Exmouth Point can be traced back to the 11th century,The route book of Devon, Publisher Besley, 1870, Publisher: Oxford University when it was known as Lydwicnaesse, "the point of the Bretons". The two ecclesiastical parishes, Littleham and Withycombe Raleigh, that make up the town of Exmouth today can be traced to pre-Saxon times. The name of the town derives from its location at the mouth of the River Exe estuary, which ultimately comes from an ancient Celtic word for fish. For centuries, the parishes were within East Budleigh Hundred. In 1240 an area known as Pratteshuthe (Pratt’s landi ...
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Exmouth Engraving
Exmouth is a port town, civil parish and seaside resort, sited on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe and southeast of Exeter. In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the 5th most populous settlement in Devon. History Byzantine coins with the mark of Anastasius I, dating back to c. 498–518, were retrieved from the beach in 1970. More recent human occupation of Exmouth Point can be traced back to the 11th century,The route book of Devon, Publisher Besley, 1870, Publisher: Oxford University when it was known as Lydwicnaesse, "the point of the Bretons". The two ecclesiastical parishes, Littleham and Withycombe Raleigh, that make up the town of Exmouth today can be traced to pre-Saxon times. The name of the town derives from its location at the mouth of the River Exe estuary, which ultimately comes from an ancient Celtic word for fish. For centuries, the parishes were within East Budleigh Hundred. In 1240 an area known as Pratteshuthe (Pratt’s landi ...
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Exmouth First Train 1861
Exmouth is a port town, civil parish and seaside resort, sited on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe and southeast of Exeter. In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the 5th most populous settlement in Devon. History Byzantine coins with the mark of Anastasius I, dating back to c. 498–518, were retrieved from the beach in 1970. More recent human occupation of Exmouth Point can be traced back to the 11th century,The route book of Devon, Publisher Besley, 1870, Publisher: Oxford University when it was known as Lydwicnaesse, "the point of the Bretons". The two ecclesiastical parishes, Littleham and Withycombe Raleigh, that make up the town of Exmouth today can be traced to pre-Saxon times. The name of the town derives from its location at the mouth of the River Exe estuary, which ultimately comes from an ancient Celtic word for fish. For centuries, the parishes were within East Budleigh Hundred. In 1240 an area known as Pratteshuthe (Pratt’s landi ...
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Bristol And Exeter Railway
The Bristol & Exeter Railway (B&ER) was an English railway company formed to connect Bristol and Exeter. It was built on the broad gauge and its engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It opened in stages between 1841 and 1844. It was allied with the Great Western Railway (GWR), which built its main line between London and Bristol, and in time formed part of a through route between London and Cornwall. It became involved in the gauge wars, a protracted and expensive attempt to secure territory against rival companies supported by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) which used the narrow gauge, later referred to as ''standard gauge''. At first it contracted with the GWR for that company to work the line, avoiding the expense of acquiring locomotives, but after that arrangement expired in 1849, the B&ER operated its own line. It opened a number of branches within the general area it served: to Clevedon, Cheddar, Wells, Weston-super-Mare, Chard, Yeovil and Tiverton. The B ...
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Atmospheric Railway
An atmospheric railway uses differential air pressure to provide power for propulsion of a railway vehicle. A static power source can transmit motive power to the vehicle in this way, avoiding the necessity of carrying mobile power generating equipment. The air pressure, or partial vacuum (i.e., negative relative pressure) can be conveyed to the vehicle in a continuous pipe, where the vehicle carries a piston running in the tube. Some form of re-sealable slot is required to enable the piston to be attached to the vehicle. Alternatively the entire vehicle may act as the piston in a large tube or be coupled electromagnetically to the piston. Several variants of the principle were proposed in the early 19th century, and a number of practical forms were implemented, but all were overcome by unforeseen disadvantages and discontinued within a few years. A modern proprietary system has been developed and is in use for short-distance applications. Porto Alegre Metro airport connection ...
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South Devon Railway Company
The South Devon Railway Company built and operated the railway from Exeter to Plymouth and Torquay in Devon, England. It was a broad gauge railway built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The line had to traverse difficult hilly terrain, and the company adopted the atmospheric system in which trains were drawn by a piston in a tube laid between the rails, a vacuum being created by stationary engines. The revolutionary system proved to have insuperable technical difficulties and was abandoned. The line continued as a conventional locomotive railway. The company promoted a number of branches, through the medium of nominally independent companies. Its original main line between Exeter and Plymouth remains in use today as an important part of the main line between London and Plymouth. Chronology * 1844 South Devon Railway Act passed by Parliament * 1846 opened to Newton Abbot * 1847 opened to Totnes, atmospheric trains start running * 1848 atmospheric trains withdrawn, Torquay branch o ...
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Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838 with the initial route completed between London and Bristol in 1841. It was engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who chose a broad gauge of —later slightly widened to —but, from 1854, a series of amalgamations saw it also operate standard-gauge trains; the last broad-gauge services were operated in 1892. The GWR was the only company to keep its identity through the Railways Act 1921, which amalgamated it with the remaining independent railways within its territory, and it was finally merged at the end of 1947 when it was nationalised and became the Western Region of British Railways. The GWR was called by some "God's Wonderful Railway" and by others the "Great Way Round" but it was famed as the "Holiday ...
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