WEST OF ENGLAND MAIN LINE

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The 'West of England Main Line' is the from London Waterloo to Exeter.
The main towns served by the route are listed below. The line between London and Basingstoke is shared with the South Western Main Line.

★ London Waterloo

★ Clapham Junction

★ Woking

★ Basingstoke

★
★ Route converges from Reading, diverges to Winchester and Southampton (see South Western Main Line)

★ Andover

★ Salisbury

★
★ Route converges from Southampton, diverges to Westbury (see Wessex Main Line)

★ Tisbury

★ Gillingham

★ Templecombe

★ Yeovil Junction

★ Crewkerne

★ Axminster

★ Honiton

★ Exeter Central

★
★ Route converges from Exmouth (See Avocet Line)

★ Exeter St. David's

★
★ services continue to Newton Abbot, Paignton and Plymouth (via Great Western Main Line)

★
★ Original Plymouth route exists as far as Okehampton, currently a preservation society runs summer services from Exeter to Okehampton.

Contents

Original London and South Western main line formations

Current operations

See also

References

Bibliography

Original London and South Western main line formations

When all routes had been incorporated into the London and South Western Railway, this section of the network consisted of the various sections and stations listed below.
===Basingstoke to Exeter===

★ Basingstoke to Salisbury

★
★ Basingstoke to Andover opened 3 July 1854

★
★ Andover to Salisbury opened 1 May 1857

★
★ ''Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway'' opened June 1901, closed all traffic 30 May 1936

★ Between Basingstoke and Salisbury on the main line were:

★
★ Two links between Hurstbourne and Andover through Romsey to Eastleigh and Southampton: both closed. Link via Longparish opened 1 June 1885; closed all traffic 6 July 1931.

★
★ At Andover was the junction with the Midland and South Western Junction Railway

★
★ The Bulford Camp branch

★
★ Salisbury to Romsey; and to Bournemouth

★
★ In Salisbury the Great Western Railway (GWR) line from Westbury and Bristol had its own terminus: the L&SWR continued the route southwestwards towards Southampton. This route today is the Wessex Main Line route.

★ Salisbury — Yeovil opened 2 May 1859

★ Yeovil — Exeter opened 19 July 1860

★ Between Salisbury and Exeter on the main line; the sections were opened as follows:

★
★ branch to Yeovil Town joint station with the GWR

★
★ branch to Chard joint station with the GWR

★
★ branch to Lyme Regis from Axminster

★
★ branch to Seaton from Seaton Junction (closed)

★
★ branch to Sidmouth from Sidmouth Junction (also alternative route to Exmouth

★
★ branch to Exmouth from ''Exmouth Junction'' near Exeter

★
★ L&SWR station: Exmouth (Queen Street): here was a short section through GWR Exeter (St Davids) to ''Cowley Bridge Junction''
===Exeter to Plymouth===
The L&SWR main line continued, serving the following places:

★ Newton St Cyres

★ Crediton

★ Yeoford Junction beyond was ''Coleford Junction'' and the branch railway to Barnstaple and Ilfracombe. From Barnstaple Junction station was the branch to Bideford and Torrington (closed)
Beyond Coleford Junction most lines, except those to Barnstaple and Okehampton, are now closed. They served, among other places:

★ The branch to Bude

★ Launceston

★ Padstow

★ and the Tamar valley line to Plymouth. The southern section is now operated as the Tamar Valley Line to Gunnislake

Current operations

DMU 159001 approaches Axminster station from the North]]
Passenger services are currently operated by South West Trains using Class 159 and Class 158 trains. Currently trains run half hourly from London to Salisbury, hourly to Yeovil Junction and two hourly to Exeter. There are proposals to double the frequency to Exeter [1]; however, the long single track section between Yeovil and Exeter limits capacity and any increase would require the construction of new passing loops (possibly at Whimple and Axminster, according to local media reports).
The line is not electrified (except for the SWML portion).

See also

★ London and South Western Railway for history of the route, which formerly continued to Plymouth and Cornwall.

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 [2]

Bibliography

★ The Directory of Railway Stations, R.V.J.Butt,, , , Patrick Stephens Ltd, 1995, ISBN 1 85260 508 1

★ Railways of Dorset, J.H. Lucking ,, , , Railway Correspondence and Travel Society 1968, , ISBN(no ISBN)