Dawlish Warren railway station

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Dawlish Warren railway station serves the holiday camps alongside Dawlish Warren. The vast majority of services are local trains operated by First Great Western but other operators serve the station during the peak tourist season. There are four tracks through the station with platforms on the outer pair. To the south the railway forms the sea wall.

The station has step-free access to both platforms. Trains towards Dawlish use the platform nearest the beach, which is only a few yards away.

[edit] History

No platform was provided at Dawlish Warren until the summer of 1905 when Warren Halt was opened by the Great Western Railway. This was not on the site of the present station, but nearer the sea wall by the footbridge which had been built across the line in 1873.

The original 150 feet long platforms were lengthened to 400 feet for the next summer to allow longer trains to call. From 1 July the station was provided with offices and staff and was therefore renamed Warren Platform. It received its final name of Dawlish Warren on 1 October 1877.

Work soon started on a new station. A goods yard was opened on 10 June 1912 and the new station, now a little nearer to Starcross was opened to passengers on 23 September 1912. The platforms were now 600 feet long. The building on the platform nearest the beach was destroyed by fire on 9 January 1924.

In 1935 a camping coach was stationed in the goods yard which could be rented by holiday makers. The facility was withdrawn in 1940 but reintroduced in 1952. The number of coaches gradually increased to total nine. After 1964 the public camping coaches were withdrawn but they continue to be managed by the British Rail Staff Association for its members. The old coaches were replaced for the 1982 season by the current vehicles.

From 1974 to 1984 the buildings on the Starcross side housed the Dawlish Warren Railway Museum with its model railway.

The Great Western Railway was nationalised into British Railways in 1948.

[edit] Further reading

  • Exeter - Newton Abbot: A Railway history by Peter Kay, Platform 5 1991, ISBN 1-872524-42-7

[edit] External links


Preceding station National Rail Following station
Starcross   First Great Western
Riviera Line		   Dawlish
Starcross   South West Trains
West of England Main Line		   Dawlish
UK railway stations

  A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z  
This station offers access to the South West Coast Path.
Distance to Coast Path 50 yards
Next station anticlockwise Starcross 2 miles
Next station clockwise Dawlish 1¾ miles
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