Seaton Railway Branch Line, Devon - Part Two: Seaton Junction

Seaton Junction is not only the name of the abandoned station and defunct junction, but is also the name of the little community which lives around it, and belonging to the nearby Shute village. Apart from the station building itself, there are two footbridges, the former goods yard, an overgrown and abandoned platform on the opposite side of the rails, plus derelict factory and office buildings next door to the station. A former hotel, The Shute Arms, is situated across the road from the station - and has since been converted into flats -  although I didn't take any photos of it on my visits.

 

Originally called Colyton for Seaton, it was given the name Seaton Junction in 1869, a year after the opening of the Seaton Branch Line. As well as an important part of the holiday traffic for the seaside, the station accommodated Express Dairy Depot next door. A fleet of vans was used to collect milk, eggs and other dairy products from local farms, which were then loaded on to six-wheel tank wagons and sent by rail up to London.

The buildings included housing for the station master, who apparently was a keen gardener, growing vegetables as well as flower displays along the station platform. Part of the now overgrown garden can be seen below.

I haven't been able to discover much about the station building itself, as it doesn't appear to be listed. However, it was designed for the London & South Western Railway by the architect Sir William Tite and is a lovely Victorian Gothic building. Built with red brick, the limestone quoins and framing around the doors and windows is probably Beer Stone, from the quarry above the village of Beer. This would make sense as the stone was taken to Seaton station from the quarry and then transported on the branch line trains to Seaton Junction before being loaded onto trains for elsewhere. 

It was great seeing the old telephone box. I didn't check whilst there but I wonder if it was still connected for use. And, I wonder if it's still there now that it's been almost eleven years since my last visit.  

I came here twice; once in September 2008 in a visiting friend's car then again in September 2010 by myself, partly on bus plus a good walk. On the first visit I took the photos above through the window, when there appeared to be a free standing wall on the left hand side, possibly part of the booking office. And below, on the second visit, which shows the wall no longer there. 

The station platform footbridge is inaccessible, as is the platform and the inside of the station itself, but the second footbridge can be crossed, which is great for looking down on the one existing line which still runs between Exeter and London and the abandoned station platform.

These photos were taken through a boarded off entrance onto the platform; the top two on my first visit, the others on my second. The right hand ones clearly show the platform bridge spanning what was once three tracks, now only the one for the Exeter to London trains.
 

The Express Dairy depot next door was later used by Axminster Engineering & Mouldings Co, but was left empty and derelict at the time of my two visits. According to wikipedia the station building is now a private residence but I don't know what's happened to these other buildings. 

The offices, above, and the adjoining factory floors, below.

Below can be seen the sign for Axminster Mouldings but in the photo above, taken on the second visit, the sign had been removed.

Some lovely rust and peely paint. Can't resist it! ;)

 
The next stop along after the factory is the long bridge spanning all the tracks, including what was once the Seaton branch line.

There's a public footpath sign pointing over the bridge, but once across and onto the other side there's no sign of a footpath...just a plantation of young trees and a tangle of ivy, old man's beard and brambles.

On the other side.

And, being september, there were plenty of blackberries to snack on too!

Both bridges are made of concrete and were built in Exmouth along with the platelayer's huts as seen in Part One on the previous article. Along with the buildings at Colyford intermediate station, which are no longer there, they are unique to East Devon railways. 

The view towards the platform bridge, with the station buildings behind it, below, followed by...

...the bridge on the opposite platform. And after that, the erstwile goods yard on the right side of the long bridge.

The photos below were taken from the road bridge further down the line. 

You can see part of the old platform on the left, opposite to the station, and in the distance the platform bridge spanning the trackbed. The white lines just below that bridge denotes where the station building is on the right hand side.

 

I tried to get a photo of the station but it was too far back to see behind the trees.

A few more photos of the station building.

And to finish off with, some earlier photos of when the branch line was alive and running, with kind permission of Mary Byrne-Jones, the copyright holder. Firstly, some of Seaton Station...

...a train leaving Seaton Station, below, and on its way along the River Axe.

The blocks of Beer Stone being moved by crane at Seaton Station.

Seaton Junction with the fleet of Express Dairy vans lined up in front.

And very finally, a copy of the original railway poster advertising Seaton as a holiday destination, produced by Southern Railways and designed by Kenneth Shoesmith.

Having bought and framed this one up some time ago, I recently bought copies of the Lyme Regis and Exmouth railway posters. I suppose that means I'll have to go out on long walks and bus rides to explore those branch lines as well now! ;)

I hope you enjoyed that. It's a bit higgledy-piggledy as putting it all together in some sort of order was a job and a half - and I'm not even sure I've got it right even now - but I did enjoy doing that and remembering being there again. Cheers. :)

Seaton Railway Branch Line, Devon - Part One

Seaton & Beer Railway opened on March 1868. Running from Seaton up to Seaton Junction, where it converged with the Exeter-London line, it comprised stations at Seaton, Colyton and Seaton Junction, with an intermediate stop at Colyford. As well as being important for carrying holiday-makers to the seaside, the goods yard in Seaton was also used as a depository for Beer Stone from the quarry, a crane once in situ for the purpose. The large blocks of stone were left there to weather and harden as, being calcareous, it is softer to cut whilst underground and hardens when topside. There were no special goods trains to transport the stone, but they were taken whenever empty or near-empty trains were able to handle the additional weight on truck beds along with the carriages.
 

Now used by Seaton & District Tramways, I took a tram journey for the first part of my exploration of the erstwhile railway line, between Seaton and Colyton.

Old concrete posts, which can be seen in the photos above and below, once marked the edge of the railway line, running alongside the River Axe from Seaton, some of which are now partly submerged in the mud and water.

Below is one of several platelayers' huts along the route. Built in Exmouth, along with the concrete bridges at Seaton Junction, they are unique to East Devon branchlines. The dinosaur picture on the side is part of a 'Jurassic Coastline' checklist game for children travelling on the tram.  

The only stop between Seaton and Colyton is this one, where there's a rail loop for passing trams just before the road crossing at Colyford.

There is little left of this intermediate station at Colyford. In old photos there are nothing but concrete buildings similar to the platelayer huts, which were also built in Exmouth. However, this wonderful, original urinal remains in situ (below). Not in use now, but still kept beautifully maintained. 

The tramline crossing over the A3052 road. I happened to have been walking along the road, and had already passed the crossing, when the lights and warning signals started. It was a bit of a rush job but I managed to get back and take the photo just as the tram went past. Not a very good photo, unfortunately, but it was too good an opportunity to miss.

Some photos between Colyford station and the next stop at Colyton station.

Being coastal Devon, I nearly always find a boat whenever I go on one of my explores. In this case, several odd bits of them! ;)

Colyton Station was the end of my tram journey; the rest taken by foot or bus at various different times. The station house is the original one built in 1868.

Now comprising a delightful cafe as well as tourist information and booking office.

I was quite taken with these lovely old lamposts and crawled about between the picnic tables to try and get the detail of this one base...much to the amusement of people sitting there. We aim to please! ;)

I can't quite make out all the writing but it more or less says...

THE 
H (something) M & S
(something) IRON 
COMPANY 
LONDON

A few buildings on the other side of the track, comprising the goods depot.

The trackbed stops shortly after the station buildings, where it would have continued over a bridge, the top of which is now dismantled. The station lane continues along beneath where the bridge used to be and on into Colyton town itself.

The remains of the bridge uprights can be seen either side of the lane, below. Before that, on the opposite side of the lane, was this old and rather ornate gate. I suspect it may have been another way onto the line, possibly for rail staff only, such as the signalman or linesmen.

The letters and numbers on bridges are for identification purposes, so that maintenance can be carried out. I haven't been able to find out for certain, but I'm pretty sure that the letters stand for 'London Exeter' and  'Seaton Exeter Branch'.

The letters in the above photo were on a second bridge in the adjacent lane, also dismantled leaving the upright supports, seen below.
 

It was quite easy to scramble to the top of that bridge on the left hand side, where I took the next photo. This is where the line continued on its way to Seaton Junction. Nothing of it now remains.

However, after a lot more research, I discovered where the trackbed continued and where it joined the main Exeter-London line at Seaton Junction. I came across some fab photos of the branch line at the junction on the Umborne Community website, taken from an amazing book with the improbably long title of Main Line to the West The Southern Railway Route between Basingstoke to Exeter - Part Three Yeovil to Exeter by John Nicholas and George Reeve. I bought the book and it's massive; choc-a-block with photos and information...and extremely heavy!

Anyway, from the information I was able to trace the track line from Colyton to Seaton Junction using Google Earth. Above, I've marked its journey from Colyton station to the second bridge and where the old line went from there.

Below, is the end of the line where it joins the station at Seaton Junction. Very happily the line is clearly marked by a row of hedging and it swings around to join the main line just to the right of the long bridge...exactly matching how it looks in the original photos taken during its use. I can't tell you how excited I was seeing that. :)
 

The last stop at Seaton Junction station, closed since the branch line closure in 1966.
 

And I'm going to leave it there because Part Two will deal a lot more fully with Seaton Junction. That will include not only the station building, goods yard and the two footbridges but also the adjoining factory building which had a part to play in the station's history.