Lyme Regis railway station was the terminus of the

Lyme Regis branch line 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; penetr ...

in the west of the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county of

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

. Serving the

coastal resort town A seaside resort is a resort town, town, village, or hotel that serves as a Resort, vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requirements, suc ...

Lyme Regis Lyme Regis is a town in west Dorset, England, west of Dorchester and east of Exeter. Sometimes dubbed the "Pearl of Dorset", it lies by the English Channel at the Dorset–Devon border. It has noted fossils in cliffs and beaches on the Herita ...

, it was sited high above the town centre as a result of the hilly nature of the local area. The line straddled the county boundary so that although the terminus was in Dorset most of the line lay in the neighbouring county of

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

History

Opened under the

Light Railways Act 1896 The Light Railways Act 1896 (59 & 60 Vict. c.48) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. History Before the Act each new railway line built in the country required a specific Act of Parliament to be ob ...

, it was operated from the start by the

London and South Western Railway The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exeter ...

. The line then passed on to the Southern Railway in 1923 and the

Southern Region of British Railways The Southern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948 until 1992 when railways were re-privatised. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s. The region covered south London, southern England and the sout ...

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

in 1948. It was then transferred to the Western Region in 1963, but the station and branch line were closed by the

British Railways Board British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

in November 1965.

Buildings

A small wooden building served the single platform. The station also had a

signal box In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

and engine shed, and a small goods shed. The station closed with the branch in 1965.

The site today

The former site is now a small industrial estate. The station building was moved to Alresford on the

Watercress Line The Watercress Line is the marketing name of the Mid-Hants Railway, a heritage railway in Hampshire, England, running from New Alresford to Alton where it connects to the National Rail network. The line gained its popular name in the days w ...

, a

heritage line A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

in nearby

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

References

* *
Lyme Regis station on navigable 1946 O. S. mapLyme Regis station on Sub Brit
{{coord, 50.7292, -2.9455, type:railwaystation_region:GB, display=title Disused railway stations in Dorset Former London and South Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1903 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1965 Beeching closures in England Lyme Regis