{"id":301,"date":"2020-09-22T01:09:26","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T00:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.teignrail.co.uk\/scouting\/?p=301"},"modified":"2026-03-14T09:47:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T09:47:58","slug":"43-exe-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teignrail.co.uk\/scouting\/43-exe-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"43 Exe Valley Branch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The railway’s friend, Richard Holladay, kindly sent some photographs that he had taken from the window of an Exe Valley train when he was a lad, which must have been not long before the service was withdrawn, in October, 1963.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would have been simple to identify the locations and add some captions, but the scout took it upon himself to take corresponding shots, or ones as near as possible to the original locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This then provided the opportunity to take some more along the line, which involved several exploratory rides.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richard took his first shot from the droplight of the second coach, when the branch train was on the main line between Cowley Bridge Junction and Stafford Bridge. The curvature and the cover gave away the location, which the scout captured while sealed within a wretched “bullet train.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After Stafford Bridge, Richard’s train would have crossed the Exe again by means of North Bridge. The scout was following a footpath by the river when a horn heralded the approach of the daily train of empty minerals from Riverside Yard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The loco of the mineral train is momentarily supported by the lattice girders of North Bridge.
The intake for Exeter’s Pynes Water Treatment Works is at right. It was sited here because the Culm, which joins the Exe just beyond the bridge, was once heavily polluted by the many paper mills.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The train continues its acceleration along the Exe Valley towards Stoke Canon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Stoke Canon<\/strong> was one of the six stations between Taunton and Exeter where the line was quadrupled. Platform loops were installed here in 1932 as part of the Great Western Railway\u2019s (the real<\/em> G.W.R., not the fake brand) improvement works funded by interest free government loans under the Development (Loan Guarantees and Grants) Act, 1929.
Additionally, the branch, seen diverging left, was given its own platform, shorter than the Up line face of the island.
The station was closed in 1960 and the Exe Valley service had only months to run before it was withdrawn in October, 1963.
The Tiverton train has only slowed to collect the token from the junction box, off picture at left.
In a few years the goods yard at top right will also be gone. Photographer: Peter Gray.<\/em>
 <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

Richard’s next shot was taken as his train left Stoke Canon. Even had the scout been able to wander over the field through which the railway ran, it would have been very difficult to find the exact position of the train. So “today’s” photo is taken from where the public footpath once crossed the line, but now begins to follow it towards Brampford Speke, and from where both former railway boundaries are intact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right:<\/strong> Looking back to Stoke Canon Crossing from the branch.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
It is the train leaning on the cant, not the land sloping.
The Raddon Hills can be seen in the background.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
\"\"
Further along, the boundary fences close in and the formation is undisturbed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Looking in the opposite direction, the curve from the junction is denoted by the remaining boundary, lost in a hedge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
The train is passing the former Stoke Canon Station, closed to passengers in 1960, whose building, part of the 1932 remodelling, can be seen behind the second coach. The Exe Valley Branch diverged to the left, by the white-wrapped bales.
Behind are the sheds on the site of Stoke Canon Paper Mill, once served by a leat fed from the River Culm. +<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If Richard had been looking out of the other side, he would have seen the main line and Stoke Canon Crossing. He would not have seen what passes for a train nowadays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n