Exeter St Davids railway station

Exeter St Davids railway station is the principal and largest railway station in Exeter, also the busiest station in Devon.

It is 193 mi from the zero point at London Paddington, from where trains travel through Exeter to Plymouth and Penzance. The station is also served by trains from London Waterloo via Salisbury and long distance services to Bristol Temple Meads, Birmingham New Street, Edinburgh Waverley and other places in the North. Local services operate on the Avocet Line to Exmouth, the Riviera Line to Paignton, the Tarka Line to Barnstaple and Dartmoor Line to Okehampton.

It is managed by Great Western Railway and served by trains operated by Great Western Railway, South Western Railway and CrossCountry.

History
The station was opened on 1 May 1844 by the Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER). The station was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and was one of his single-sided stations which meant that the two platforms were both on the eastern side of the line. This side is nearer the city and so very convenient for passengers travelling into Exeter, but did mean that many trains had to cross in front of others.

This was not a significant issue while the station was at the end of the line, but on 30 May 1846 the South Devon Railway (SDR) opened a line westwards towards Plymouth. A carriage shed was built for the SDR at the south end of the B&ER platform but the goods sheds and locomotive sheds for both companies were to the west, between the station and the River Exe. The SDR was designed to be worked by atmospheric power and an engine house was built on the banks of the river near the locomotive shed. This was only used for its original purpose for about a year but was not demolished until many years later.

The next railway to arrive at St Davids was the Exeter and Crediton Railway on 12 May 1851, the junction of which is to the north of the station at Cowley Bridge Junction. This line was worked by the B&ER and trains were accommodated at the existing platforms. All these railways were built to the broad gauge, but on 1 February 1862, the  gauge London and South Western Railway (LSWR) brought a line into the station from their own Exeter Central in Queen Street. The LSWR owned the Exeter and Crediton Railway and started to work the line for itself, although the broad gauge was retained for the B&ER to work goods trains to Crediton.

With two gauges and four companies using the single-sided station, it was in need of remodelling. A new double-sided platform opened on the western side of the line and the original up platform at the northern end was closed. The original platforms had all been constructed with individual train sheds covering the tracks, and the opportunity was taken to replace these with one large train shed across all the main tracks and platforms. North of the station was a level crossing and just beyond this an additional goods shed was constructed. Unlike the earlier ones, it was solely for transferring goods between the trains of the two different gauges. These buildings were all designed by Francis Fox, the B&ER engineer, and Henry Lloyd and the work was completed in 1864.

The B&ER was amalgamated with the Great Western Railway on 1 January 1876 and the SDR did the same thing exactly one month later. The main line from Bristol was rebuilt with mixed gauge track that allowed broad gauge trains to run through from London Paddington to Penzance, while at the same time offering a standard gauge track for local trains from Bristol Temple Meads; the new line was ready by 1 March 1876.

The train shed was removed in 1912-13 and the platforms extended northwards towards the level crossing. A second island platform was provided on the west side and this entailed the goods shed being narrowed from two tracks to one at their southern end. The middle island platform was mainly used for LSWR trains while "down" GWR services towards the West Country used the original main platform and the new island platforms. Before Southern Region services to Plymouth were abandoned, passengers could see Plymouth-bound services of the Western Region and Southern Region leaving St Davids in opposite directions. The station has remained largely in this form since, but resignalling works in 1985 saw the ex-LSWR services moved to the main platform so that down ex-GWR line services did not have to cross their path at the south end of the station. A through-line between platforms 1 and 3 was removed at the same time. The new signal box was built on the site of the old atmospheric engine house and replaced three older signal boxes.

Remains of the earlier stations can still be seen. The main façade dates from 1864 and the Great Western Hotel dates from the earliest days, as does the southern section of platform 1. The goods shed opposite platform 6 shows the angle where the southern end was cut back in 1912, and at the northern end, part of the original goods shed still stands beneath later extensions. The 1864 transfer shed can still be seen beside the line beyond Red Cow Crossing; it is now a Grade II listed building.

Station Masters

 * William Mears ca. 1850 - 1891
 * Samuel Morris 1891 - 1900
 * H.E. Williams 1900 - 1911 (formerly station master at Newton Abbot)
 * John Lea 1911 - 1922 (formerly station master at Slough, afterwards station master at Reading)
 * W.E. Denton 1922 - 1926
 * A.J. Humphrey 1926 - 1928 (formerly station master of Weymouth)
 * Ernest Tom Evans 1928 - 1938 (formerly station master at Gloucester)
 * W.J. Gush 1938 - 1939
 * William Nicholls 1939 - 1945 (formerly station master at Wolverhampton Low Level)
 * F.G. Elmore ca. 1950

Facilities
The main buffet and bookshop are both outside the ticket gates. There are also a number of local shops outside the station along with the Great Western Hotel and a Premier Inn hotel. There is a smaller buffet on platforms 5 & 6.

The main passenger footbridge has many paintings resembling frescoes and depicting romantic versions of rail travel. A second bridge fitted with lifts provides disabled access. When the lifts are out of use, a member of station staff escorts people across a foot crossing at track level towards the south of the station.

Location
The station entrance is on the east side of the line, facing the city centre which is about a 15 minutes walk along well-signposted routes. There are also frequent bus services to the centre from outside the station and many trains link St Davids with Exeter Central railway station.

Beyond platform six is the Exeter panel signal box that controls not just St Davids but also the main line north through to Taunton and Cogload Junction and southwards to Totnes and Torquay as well the branches out to Exmouth Junction and Crediton. Next to this is Exeter Traincare Depot where DMU sets used on local services are fuelled. A goods shed is situated beyond Red Cow Crossing at the north end of the platforms, and finally beyond that is Riverside Yard which still sees goods traffic. Cowley Bridge Junction is about a mile away at the far end of Riverside Yard, but the junction for the Exeter Central line is right by the south end of the platforms. This line curves eastwards and climbs steeply to cross a small viaduct before entering a tunnel beneath the city; the main line instead stays on the level and crosses both the River Exe and the city's flood defence channel before curving gently out of sight.

Platform layout
The entrance is on platform 1, which is mainly used for trains to and from Exeter Central and Barnstaple. It is signalled so that two trains can be on the platform simultaneously, with the south end marked as platform 1A. At the north end is platform 2, a separate bay platform that is used from time to time for trains to and from the north – mainly Bristol and Barnstaple – that start or terminate at St Davids.

The middle pair of platforms is numbered 3 & 4. The former is used by similar trains to platform 1, but platforms 4-6 do not have access to the lines from Exeter Central. Instead platform 4 is the main platform for inter-city trains to Paignton, Plymouth and Penzance. Trains from both platforms 1 and 3 can also reach this route so trains from Exmouth that continue westwards will reverse in one of these platforms.

The third platform block sees northbound trains to London Paddington and the North use platform 5. Various local services use platform 6 as do trains from Paddington or the North that terminate at Exeter then return northwards.

Services


There are two direct routes from St Davids to London. The main line is generally considered to be the Great Western Railway service to London Paddington via Reading, which includes the Night Riviera sleeping car service. However, there is also a service operated by South Western Railway on the West of England Line to London Waterloo via Salisbury and Basingstoke. Because of this, the station is one of the few that has trains to London departing in opposite directions at either end of the station – those to Paddington leave northwards while those to Waterloo head south but turn eastwards, and start the steep climb to Exeter Central just outside the station.

London services run hourly between Exeter St Davids and London Waterloo and at least hourly between Exeter St Davids and London Paddington (fast trains every hour, with additional semi-fast trains every other hour stopping at some intermediate stations). The fastest trains between Exeter St Davids and London Paddington take just over 2 hours.

Great Western Railway also runs services to Cardiff Central via Bristol Temple Meads, approximately hourly in the mornings and reducing in frequency throughout the day.

Further long-distance services are operated by CrossCountry to Birmingham New Street, Manchester Piccadilly, Sheffield, Leeds, York, Newcastle, Edinburgh Waverley, Glasgow Central and Aberdeen. These services are roughly hourly for much of the day between Birmingham New Street and Exeter St Davids.

Four local routes converge at St Davids – the Avocet Line from Exmouth, the Tarka Line from Barnstaple, the Riviera Line from Paignton and the Dartmoor Line from Okehampton. Trains from Exmouth generally continue to Paignton every half hour, providing a cross-Exeter service.

Bus services
Bus services from the station, operated by Stagecoach South West, include destinations throughout the city, plus Okehampton, Tiverton, Crediton, Bideford and Barnstaple.

Accidents and incidents
On 4 January 2010, Class 142 diesel multiple unit 142 029 collided with a train comprising two Class 159 diesel multiple units at platform 1. Nine people were injured.

Passenger volume
Exeter St Davids is the busiest station in Devon, handling around 2,619,776 passengers a year in 2018/19. This is just ahead of nearby Exeter Central station (2,532,450) and 200,000 more than Plymouth, where 2,416,376 journeys began or ended. Comparing the year from April 2007 to that which started in April 2002, passenger numbers increased by 30%. The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.