Honiton railway station
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Honiton railway station serves the town of
Honiton Honiton ( or ) is a market town and civil parish in East Devon, situated close to the River Otter, north east of Exeter in the county of Devon. Honiton has a population estimated at 11,822 (based on mid-year estimates for the two Honiton Ward ...
in east
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 ...
, England. It is operated by South Western Railway and is down the line from , on the
West of England Line The West of England line (also known as the West of England Main Line) is a British railway line from , Hampshire, to in Devon, England. Passenger services run between London Waterloo station and Exeter; the line intersects with the Wessex Ma ...
.


History

The station was opened by the LSWR on 19 July 1860, along with its Exeter Extension from to Exeter Queen Street. The station was designed by
William Tite Sir William Tite (7 February 179820 April 1873) was an English architect who twice served as President of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He was particularly associated with various London buildings, with railway stations and cemetery ...
with the main building on the westbound platform, even though this is the side furthest from the town centre. The station was on an embankment on the west side of New Street and the goods yard with a small
goods shed A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train. A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built ...
was on the south side beyond the station building. Further sidings were provided on the north side of the line opposite the main goods yard. Goods facilities were withdrawn on 8 May 1967. In August 2009, a new footbridge was erected at Honiton Railway Station replacing an older footbridge. The location of the footbridge moved towards the Exeter end of the station. It was announced in early December 2010 that Honiton Railway Station was to undergo a phase of several improvements. This phase of £1.4 million improvements set out to provide the station with a brighter enlarged booking hall, new toilets and changing facilities; and also a retail unit. In addition, both platforms were fitted with accessible ramps along with a new waiting shelter to make it easier for all passengers to use the station. The project, funded by South West Trains, Devon County Council, Network Rail and the National Station Improvement Programme has made the station more accessible. As part of South West Trains' commitment to deliver greener travel, the station was also equipped with shelters, additional CCTV and 1000 new bicycle spaces. Work on the improvement scheme started in early December 2010 and the completed refurbishment was officially unveiled on Thursday 23 June 2011. To mark the completion, Andy Pitt, managing director for South West Trains along with councillor Stuart Hughes from Devon County Council gathered at the station for a photo and unveiling.


Stationmasters

*James McLees 1863 - 1894 (formerly station master at Axminster) *W.H. Smith 1894 - 1912 *William Thomas Smith 1912 - 1920 (formerly station master at Seaton Junction) *F. Perry 1920 - 1927 *William George Dymott Kail 1927 - 1937 (formerly station master at South Moulton) *S. Towler 1937 - 1946 (afterwards station master at Amesbury) *W.T. Piper 1946 - 1950 (formerly station master at Budleigh Salterton)


Roundball Halt

There was, for a few years, a second station in Honiton. It was opened in September 1906 about half a mile from the town station to allow soldiers to reach a rifle range at Roundball Hill, south west of the town centre. It was never advertised in timetables and was demolished early in 1921.


Accidents and incidents

On Sunday 4 October 2009 at 11.45pm, a man escaped injuries after he walked onto the railway line at Honiton Railway Station. Police stated that a train managed to stop without hitting the man. Shortly afterwards, the 33-year-old man was sent to hospital to take a mental health assessment.


Facilities

A modern station building stands on the main platform which is on the southern side of the line. A footbridge to the west of this links the northern platform which has a small waiting shelter. The signal box is at the Exeter end of this platform and the main station car park is situated behind this, however the 1957 signal box closed and was knocked down in late spring of 2012. The station saw a refurbishment in Spring 2011, providing a new booking hall, more CCTV, shelters and increased accessibility.


Services

Off-peak, all services at Honiton are operated by South Western Railway using and
DMUs A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...
. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: * 1 tph to via * 1 tph to The station is also served by a single weekday peak hour service from to which is operated by
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 ...
.


Signalling

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'' ...
was built in 1875 at the Exeter end of the station on the south side of the line. This was replaced by a new building on 16 June 1957 which was on the opposite side of the tracks. On 11 June 1967 the line from to was reduced to a single track but a loop line was retained at Honiton to allow trains to pass midway on this section. The westbound platform was signalled to allow eastbound trains to use it when they are not crossing a train coming in the opposite direction. In December 2009 a new loop was installed at Axminster to break up the section towards Chard. One siding was retained to the west of the signal box, worked by a ground frame rather than from the signal box itself, however this has now also been lifted. Another signal box was provided at Honiton Incline. This was situated on the north side of the line beyond the Honiton Tunnel. The line climbs from towards Honiton at 1 in 100 (1%) and then continues up to the tunnel mouth a slightly steeper gradients, it then drops at 1 in 80 (1.25%) down to the former . In 2012 signalling for the Salisbury-Exeter line transferred to the new signalling centre at Basingstoke. Signals previously controlled by Gillingham, Templecombe, Yeovil Junction and Honiton boxes all now have the prefix SE.


See also

*
Southern Railway routes west of Salisbury This article describes the history and operation of the railway routes west of Salisbury built by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) and allied companies, which ultimately became part of the Southern Railway in the United Kingdom. Salisb ...


References


External links

{{SWT Stations, Salisbury=y, Suburban None=y, IL None=y Railway stations in Devon Former London and South Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1860 Railway stations served by South Western Railway Honiton Railway stations served by Great Western Railway DfT Category D stations