{"id":2780,"date":"2022-09-03T12:37:21","date_gmt":"2022-09-03T11:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.teignrail.co.uk\/scouting\/?p=2780"},"modified":"2025-10-17T23:50:45","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T22:50:45","slug":"74-sidmouth-branch-refresher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teignrail.co.uk\/scouting\/74-sidmouth-branch-refresher\/","title":{"rendered":"74 Sidmouth Branch Refresher"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At the second attempt, the scout got to Sidmouth Junction, today’s Feniton<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His ride planned for 19th August had had to be abandoned because the 1025 to Waterloo was cancelled. On the later occasion, the same train arrived at Pinhoe on time but lost eight minutes waiting for a Down train to clear the single line. It was seven late away from Feniton but had made up six minutes on arrival at Waterloo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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All that’s left of the three-platform junction station. It was opened as Feniton, went under two other names and became Sidmouth Junction upon the opening of the branch in 1874. The station closed in 1967, but was reopened as Feniton in 1971, a sizeable settlement having grown up around the railway. +<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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The window is open from 0730 – 1000 on weekdays.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The scout had thought that the station was unstaffed but found that the booking office opens for two and a half hours on weekday mornings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it was manned for a full turn, the scout remembered chatting to the member of staff and noted most passengers exchanging pleasantries with him as a familiar face. If all booking offices are threatened with closure, as is rumoured, then many small stations will become lonely places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The barriers at the adjacent crossing were once controlled from the office, but this is now done remotely at Basingstoke.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The former Down platform is beyond the fence and on this side would have been the Sidmouth Branch bay. The buffer stop must have been at the end of this strip of grass.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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Copyright: Roger Joanes. Shared under Creative Commons. <\/em>+<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Before wandering down the branch, the scout went over the crossing and spotted the sign pointing to the village; foolishly, he’d always thought the village surrounded the station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He rode the three parts of a mile and was soon looking over the churchyard wall at St. Andrew’s. A voice behind him let him know that the church was open and that he was welcome to photograph within. The churchwarden, gardening with his two granddaughters, told the scout that the “transi” tomb was a remarkable survivor, being one of only 37 in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n