107 Brixham Branch

The scout rode all two miles and six chains of this branch from a branch.

Churston

This is another example of the railway abbreviating its station name: the settlement is actually Churston Ferrers. The station could have been Galmpton, a closer and larger place.

The Brixham Bay was reinstated by the independent railway and later covered by a carriage workshop.
At left are the former Station Hotel and the yard where the circular tour buses are stored. The locomotive shop is at right.
The Kingswear Branch reaches the top of the climb from Goodrington at left. The houses are built on the course of the Brixham Branch and goods yard. The turntable recovered from Goodrington is sited in what was once the fork of the junction.
The first bridge is but a short ride along Bridge Road from the station. The cutting on the left has been filled in and is now part of a garden.

Bascombe Road, which crosses the Kingswear Branch, runs alongside the old line of railway for around 700 yards.

The steel spans have gone from Elberry Lane Bridge, above. This one and the next two were repaired and tidied up by National Highways in 2023. The two chaps sent to repair Station Bridge at Christow had been working on the Brixham Branch.

Churston Road passes beneath the line and joins Bascombe Road.

Looking towards Brixham.
Copythorne Road crosses the line here.
Ahead can be seen the rendered tower of St. Mary the Virgin with the masts of Beacon Hill in the distance. +
The cutting has been partly filled in on this side.

From Copythorne Road, there is a turning into North Boundary Road, which allowed housing development to fill Brixham Parish after the railway was closed. A little of a filled in rock cutting has been left as a playground.

The playground is within the former railway boundaries. One or both boundaries are easily discernible for much of the way to the old station.

The Air Ministry’s Aviation Fuel Reserve Depot, installed in 1940, lay to the left of Northfield Lane. The sidings came towards the road where the white house stands today. To the right of the van can be seen one of the terraces standing on the course of the branch. +

On the footpath which runs to the south of the bungalows built on the course of the line from Northfield Lane, the scout met the very engaging John, who said that he’d been a keen cyclist, riding with the Mid Devon Cycling Club. He had lost his peripheral vision, affecting his sense of balance, and could no longer ride. He lived in one of the bungalows which he inherited from his Mother. They were built in 1967, only four years after the line was closed.

He remembered “The Whippet” (the nickname for the branch train) well and was easily distracted by it when he was a pupil at Furzeham School, some of whose classrooms overlooked the station. He told the scout that he had been a fisherman and had later done a fish round. The scout recalled Dave Hart, another fisherman who latterly did a round which included Christow on a Friday. He was sad to hear from John that Dave had died only a fortnight ago.

John talked of the Belgian fishing fleet that escaped to Brixham during the war and the continuing success of the port, including how much fish leaves by lorry destined for markets abroad. He had exported cuttlefish to Japan. He was sad that retired fisherman do not gather socially as they once did.

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Skirting the green, the scout reached the old station.

Brixham

The Brixham Railway Heritage Trail is a very active project partly aiming to make more of the former line accessible to walkers. It has erected this commemorative board opposite the station entrance at the top of Ropewalk Hill.

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The project’s Mughook pages contain a splendid collection of photographs and much information.

Standing on the path below the end of the line, the scout wondered where steam may once have been seen here from the Kingswear Branch. He thought brief glimpses may have been had from Livermead, nearly 4½ miles away, and Hollicombe.
The bay from Livermead, at left, to London Bridge Arch is visible. +
In this 1928 aerial view, the station can be seen at top right.
Furzeham School and the station dominate the top left in this 1928 view. All Saints’ Church lies at centre.
It’s a steep climb from the harbour, but not a long one for anyone used to Devon hills.
Brixham is usually associated with William of Orange, who landed here in 1688.
Is this a “TRULY HAPPY ISLAND” now? +
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The last train from Brixham, 11th May, 1963.
From a monochrome negative acquired by Bernard Mills and coloured by Richard Hoskin.
Copyright: Bernard Mills.
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