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 down the line from and is sited between Whimple and Honiton.
History
The station was designed by William Tite and was opened by the LSWR on 19 July 1860, along with its Exeter Extension from 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 Road. In February 1868 this was changed again to Ottery St Mary. On 6 July 1874 a branch line to 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 was opened and this was extended on 1 June 1903 to . Although the junction for this line was at , 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stopping trains on the main line, but Sidmouth Junction remained open until 6 March 1967 when passenger services were withdrawn from the branch lines, after which it closed.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 reopened by British Rail on 5 May 1971, 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. The disused eastbound platform still stands but the goods yard site is now occupied by houses.
In 1974 the level crossing gates were replaced by lifting barriers, the level crossing box was abolished, and the barriers were operated from a panel within the station building. Then in March 2012, signalling and level crossing control was transferred to Basingstoke Area Signalling Centre.
Facilities The station has a ticket machine, a waiting room (open in the mornings only), a car park, cycle storage, a help point and a live departure board.
Passenger volume +Passenger volume at Feniton2004–052005–062006–072007–082008–092009–102010–112011–122012–132013–142014–152015–162016–172017–182018–192019–202020–212021–222022–232023–242024–25Entries and exits57,54155,34159,87261,65366,64460,04864,49068,46866,95866,39470,53474,29469,07871,97263,80853,72417,45647,54452,04853,83654,896 The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.
Services
Off-peak, all services at Feniton are operated by South Western Railway.
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is one train every two hours between and via , increasing to hourly at peak times.
The station is also served by a single weekday peak hour service from to 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.
See also Southern Railway routes west of Salisbury
References
Bibliography
External links
Subterranea Britannica site record for Sidmouth Junction station