West of England line

West of England line
Templecombe station
Overview
Type	Suburban rail, Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Termini	Basingstoke Exeter St David's
Stations	21 (Basingstoke to Exeter St David's)
Operation
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	South Western Railway
Depot(s)	Salisbury TMD
Rolling stock	Class 158 "Express Sprinter" Class 159 "South Western Turbo"
Technical
Line length	120 mi 77 ch (194.67 km) [Basingstoke to Exeter St David's] 172 mi 12 ch (277.05 km) [London to Exeter St David's via SWML]
Number of tracks	Two (Basingstoke to Salisbury and Pinhoe to Exeter St David's) One* (Salisbury to Pinhoe) *Various passing loops
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Operating speed	90 mph maximum

West of England line
0 miles London Waterloo South Western main line Reading–Basingstoke line to Reading 47¾ Basingstoke Basingstoke & Alton Light Rly Worting Junction and Battledown Flyover South Western main line to Southampton Oakley 55½ Overton 590 Whitchurch Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway Hurstbourne Fullerton to Hurstbourne Line to Southampton via Longparish Sprat and Winkle Line to Southampton via Andover Town 66¼ Andover MSWJR (Red Post Junction)   72½ Grateley Amesbury and Military Camp Light Railway to Bulford Camp Idmiston Halt Porton Wessex Main Line to Southampton Salisbury Tunnel 83½ Salisbury Wessex Main Line to Bristol Temple Meads Wilton South Barford St Martin Viaduct Dinton Fovant Military Railway 96¼ Tisbury Semley 105¼ Gillingham Gillingham Viaduct Buckhorn Weston Tunnel Somerset & Dorset Joint Rly to Bath │ to Bournemouth 1120 Templecombe Milborne Port 1180 Sherborne Heart of Wessex Line to Castle Cary Yeovil Pen Mill Heart of Wessex Line to Weymouth Yeovil Town Yeovil–Taunton line 122½ Yeovil Junction Sutton Bingham 131½ Crewkerne Crewkerne Tunnel Chard Junction Chard branch line 144½ Axminster Lyme Regis branch line Seaton branch line Seaton Junction Honiton Tunnel 154¾ Honiton Roundball Halt River Otter viaduct Sidmouth Railway 159¼ Feniton 1630 Whimple 166¼ Cranbrook Broad Clyst 168½ Pinhoe Whipton Bridge Halt Avocet Line to Exmouth Exmouth Junction Mount Pleasant Road Halt Blackboy Tunnel 1710 St James Park 171½ Exeter Central St David's Tunnel Exeter–Plymouth line to Plymouth 172¼ Exeter St Davids Bristol–Exeter line to Taunton Cowley Bridge Junction Tarka Line to Barnstaple

The West of England line (also known as the West of England Main Line) is a British railway line from Basingstoke, Hampshire, to Exeter St David's in Devon, England. Passenger services run between London Waterloo station and Exeter. Despite its historic title, it is not today's principal route from London to the West of England: Exeter and everywhere further west is reached more quickly from London Paddington via the Reading–Taunton line. At Salisbury, the line intersects with the Wessex Main Line.

History

When all sections had been incorporated into the London and South Western Railway, they consisted of the following:

• Basingstoke to Salisbury
  • Basingstoke to Andover, opened 3 July 1854
  • Andover to Salisbury, opened 1 May 1857
• Branches:
  • Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway opened June 1901, closed 30 May 1936
  • From Hurstbourne and Andover to Romsey and on to Eastleigh and Southampton: both closed. Link via Longparish opened 1 June 1885; closed 6 July 1931.
  • At Andover, junction with the Midland and South Western Junction Railway to Cheltenham
  • Bulford Camp branch
  • Salisbury to Romsey, with a branch to Bournemouth
  • At Salisbury, the Great Western Railway (GWR) line from Westbury and Bristol had its own terminus: the L&SWR continued the route southeast towards Southampton. This route is known nowadays the Wessex Main Line.
• Between Salisbury and Exeter:
  • Salisbury–Yeovil opened 2 May 1859
  • Yeovil–Exeter opened 19 July 1860
• Branches:
  • To Yeovil Town joint station with the GWR
  • To Chard joint station with the GWR
  • To Lyme Regis from Axminster
  • To Seaton from Seaton Junction (closed)
  • To Sidmouth from Sidmouth Junction (also alternative route to Exmouth)
  • To Exmouth from Exmouth Junction near Exeter

The line was downgraded by being singled for long sections west of Salisbury by British Rail. This restricts the number of trains on this section, but passing loops have been added to alleviate this problem.

Beyond Exeter, the line continued to Plymouth via Okehampton and Tavistock as the Exeter to Plymouth railway of the LSWR. This line is now partly closed, with the surviving sections downgraded to branch lines. The section from Exeter to Coleford Junction, near Yeoford, is still in existence as part of the Tarka Line (which continues to Barnstaple). The Dartmoor Railway still exists as a heritage line and industrial line from Coleford Junction to Okehampton, where the track breaks. Tavistock lacks a rail connection, and the final section of the original main line, from Bere Alston, continues to Plymouth as part of the Tamar Valley Line.

Route

Trains between London Waterloo and Exeter run on the South Western Main Line as far as Basingstoke. The West of England Line diverges from this line at Worting Junction, a short distance west of Basingstoke.

Network Rail splits the line into two sections: the first section from the line's start at Worting Junction (near Basingstoke) to Wilton Junction (near Salisbury) is classified as "London & SE commuter"; the section from Wilton Junction to Exeter is a "Secondary" route. The secondary route west of Salisbury is predominantly single track, but has three sections of double track and four passing loops.^[1] The double track sections and passing loops are: a loop just outside Tisbury station,a loop at Gillingham station, double track from Templecombe to Yeovil Junction, a loop at the former Chard Junction station, 3 miles of double track centred on Axminster, a loop at Honiton station, and double track from Pinhoe to Exeter.

The line's speed limit is mainly 80–90 mph over its whole length from Basingstoke to Exeter.^[2] Speed is further limited around the junctions. The first section to Wilton Junction has a listed line speed of 50–90 mph, and the secondary section to Exeter has a line speed of mainly 85 mph with parts at 70 mph.^[1]

Current operations

A Class 159 at Honiton

Passenger services are currently operated by South Western Railway using Class 159 and Class 158 trains. They generally run half-hourly from London to Salisbury and hourly to Exeter, calling at Clapham Junction and/or Woking and then most stations between Basingstoke and Exeter St David's although some smaller stations east of Salisbury and near Exeter have a reduced service.^[3][4]

The Network Rail South West Main Line Route Utilisation Strategy (March 2006) recommended building an extended section of double track from Chard Junction to Axminster, plus a passing loop at Whimple. However, Network Rail's Route Plan^[5] is silent on the Whimple loop. The Axminster Loop is centred on Axminster station, and does not extend to Chard Junction as originally proposed. The line between Basingstoke, Salisbury and Exeter is not electrified.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to West of England Main Line.

• Exeter to Plymouth railway of the LSWR
• Southern Railway routes west of Salisbury

References

• Network Rail Business Plan 2006: Route 3 – South West Main Line (PDF)
• Network Rail Business Plan 2006: Route 4 – Wessex Routes (PDF)
• Network Rail Business Plan 2006: Route 12 – Reading to Penzance (PDF)
• Ordnance Survey

Bibliography

• R.V.J.Butt, (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens. ISBN 9781852605087.
• J.H. Lucking (1968). Railways of Dorset: an outline of their establishment, development and progress from 1825. Lichfield: Railway Correspondence and Travel Society. OCLC 31916.

Further reading

• Johnston, Howard (22 April – 5 May 1998). "Unlocking the potential to Exeter". RAIL. No. 329. EMAP Apex Publications. pp. 20–24. ISSN 0953-4563. OCLC 49953699.