Feniton railway station

Feniton railway station serves the village of Feniton in Devon, England. It was opened by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) in 1860 but is now operated by South Western Railway which provides services on the West of England Main Line. It is 159 mi down the line from London Waterloo.

History
The station was designed by William Tite and was opened by the LSWR on 19 July 1860, along with its Exeter Extension from Yeovil Junction to Exeter Queen Street. It was named Feniton after the nearest village, but less than a year later it was renamed (on 1 July 1861) as Ottery and Sidmouth Road. In February 1868 this was changed again to Feniton for Ottery St Mary. On 6 July 1874 a branch line to Sidmouth was opened and the station changed its name once more to become Sidmouth Junction, a name that it managed to retain for more than 90 years.

On 1 May 1897 a new line to Budleigh Salterton was opened and this was extended on 1 June 1903 to Exmouth. Although the junction for this line was at Tipton St John, Sidmouth Junction was the de facto junction as it was situated on the London main line. A third platform was provided to accommodate branch line trains; this was a terminal bay at the Yeovil end of the westbound platform. It was on this platform that the main two-storey building was situated.

A goods yard and goods shed was provided adjacent to the bay platform. This was closed on 6 September 1965. The following year saw the withdrawal of local stopping trains on the main line, but Sidmouth Junction remained open until 6 March 1967 when passenger services were withdrawn from the branch lines, after which it closed.

The station was however reopened by British Rail on 5 May 1971 as a result of local campaigning by the residents of the expanding village, assuming the original Feniton name. A ticket office was erected in 1974 as the original building had been demolished while the station was closed. The platform was rebuilt and lengthened in 1992 but is still shorter than many of the trains that call.

Platform layout
The platform is on the south side of the line, east of the level crossing of Ottery Road. The disused eastbound platform still stands but the goods yard site is now occupied by houses.

Services


Off-peak, all services at Feniton are operated by South Western Railway using and  DMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is one train every two hours between Exeter St Davids and London Waterloo via Salisbury, increasing to hourly at peak times.

The station is also served by a single weekday peak hour service from Barnstaple to Axminster which is operated by Great Western Railway.

Due to the short platform at this station, passengers wishing to alight need to be in the front 3 coaches of the train as the platform can only take 3-car trains.

Signalling
The station was built next to the level crossing of the Ottery Road which was operated by the station staff. A signal box was provided in 1875 at the east end of the station on the north side of the line, opposite goods yard. Because it was too far from the level crossing a small signal box was provided at that end of the station to control the level crossing. The main signal box was closed on 21 May 1967 but the level crossing box was retained. The line through the station reduced to just a single track on 11 June 1967. In 1974 the level crossing gates were replaced by lifting barriers; the level crossing box was abolished at the same time and the barriers were operated from a panel within the station building until March 2012 when signalling and level crossing control was transferred to Basingstoke Area Signalling Centre.