Date opened: 24.8.1903

Postcard Image of Lyme Train Station

Location: On the north side of Uplyme Road (B3165) opposite Penny Plot (road)
Company on opening: Axminster & Lyme Regis Light Railway
Date closed to passengers: 29.11.1965
Date closed completely: 29.11.1965
Company on closing: British Railways (Southern Region)
Present state: Demolished - the site is occupied by a light industrial estate. No visible evidence of the station remains. The station building was dismantled in 1979 and re-erected at Alresford Station on the Mid Hants Railway where it acts as the West Country Buffet and bookshop.
County: Dorset
OS Grid Ref: SY334926

Notes: The station was sited three quarters of a mile inland as it would have been impossible to site it nearer the town centre because of the steep gradient.  The station had a single platform with a bay. It was improved by the Southern Railway, the building was extended and a new roof was added. The platform was also lengthened to handle summer excursions. The goods yard consisted of six sidings with a wooden goods shed and platform, coal pens, cattle pens, crane and an engine shed. The bay platform also acted as a cattle loading bank. A signal box was located at the northern end of the platform.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE AXMINSTER & LYME REGIS RAILWAY
The first proposal for a branch to Lyme Regis came in 1845 but this came to nothing. During the 1860's the London & South Western Railway and Great Western Railway jointly proposed a branch to the resort but this too failed to materialise. In the 1870's the LSWR was ready to support further plans for a branch but this time only to put a stop to any proposed competition from the Great Western. The Lyme Regis Railway Company obtained an Act of Parliament in 1871 for a line to Lyme Regis from a junction with the LSWR at Axminster and the LSWR agreed to work the line. Further proposals were lodged with parliament for a later extension of the line to Bridport.

The LSWR's support for the line was only luke warm and although construction started on 29th September 1874 it soon stopped again and eventually the powers lapsed.

There was renewed local pressure in 1898 in an attempt to force the LSWR to support the line and under the Axminster and Lyme Regis Light Railway Order of 15th June 1899 powers were once again granted for a line from the station at Axminster to a site three quarters of a mile from the town centre at Lyme with one intermediate station at Combpyne.

A rare picture of a train crossing Cannington Viaduct

Construction started in June 1900, but was more difficult than anticipated and an extension of the Light Railway Order was required. The main engineering feature on the line was the viaduct across the Cannington valley; this was 600 feet in length and had a maximum height of 92 feet.

A special train ran on 22nd January 1903, following which opening was delayed due to movement in some of the earthworks but the line was finally passed a Board of Trade inspection on 21st August opening three days later on 24th August 1903.
The initial euphoria was sadly unwarranted and the traffic was disappointing, though sufficient to put the local horse-drawn bus and coastal carriers out of business.

Financial difficulties dogged the light railway and on 1st January 1907 the company was entirely absorbed by the LSWR which rapidly brought improvements, especially with the carriage of agricultural goods. Excursions proved popular and through trains to the resort increased steadily. This traffic was severely curtailed by the First World War but resumed in 1919.

With competition from buses and in the early 1950's increasing numbers of private cars passenger traffic began to decline. Excursions continued to sustain the line in summer but during the winter it was uneconomic. It wasn't helped by the inconvenient siting of the terminus, 250 feet above and its distance from the town centre and it came as no surprise when closure was proposed under the Beeching cuts. Freight services were withdrawn in early 1964 and, despite the usual protests, the line finally closed on 29th November 1965. The track was lifted in the latter half of 1967.

In 1976 there was an ambitious scheme by Minirail to reopen the line from Lyme Regis to Axminster using 15 inch gauge stock. The Axe & Lyme Valley railway established its operating base at Combpyne and track was laid for about a half mile and second hand rolling stock was delivered from other lines; they had at least one loco. The scheme was abandoned in 1977/8 through monetary problems and various land issues.

Further reading: Branch Lines of the Southern Railway Volume 2 by George Reeve & Chris Hawkins - Wild Swan 1983 ISBN 906867 14 2

The original article appears on the subbrit.org.uk web site and many thanks to Nick Catford, who is the source of the original web site and has given us permission to reproduce this treasure of a living memory.

LRD Author Note: The train station provided a great playground for those of us that grew up in Lyme Regis and Uplyme during the 1960's and 70's.  The buildings were a hiding place, shelter, fort, castle and place of discovery as well as the exterior walls used as somewhere to kick a ball against.  There were two underground "rooms" on the site, one was a former air raid shelter but the second had railway engineering equipment in it and was a little dangerous due to subsidence.  If memory serves me well, it was "about to cave in" for 10 or 20 years!  There was a treasure trove of tools, oil lamps, cigarrete cards, an air raid helmet and old stoves in the shelter but, sadly, not being old enough to appreciate them, they too became something to play with and were lost over time.  The air raid shelter was about 20 yards off to the right of the "Lyme Regis" platform sign in picture number 4 just above and to the right of here.

Many local people had the pleasure of walking the rail line out as far as Combpyne and while you can still get to some places and see the flat pathway of where the lines once were, these places are now disappearing through development and Mother Nature reclaiming her own.

The impressive Viaduct is still there but not accessible to walk across for safety reasons.  It is still worth a visit out through the beautiful Uplyme countryside, if you are walking just stop and ask for directions at Uplyme Post Office.

Nowadays, the Lyme Station would not have been sold off and instead would have been restored and become a museum or tourist attraction.  Sadly, the realisation of what is lost only came with hindsight.

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