Templecombe station closed in 1966 along with the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway from Bath to Bournemouth but reopened following strong local community pressure in 1983 and is now used by around 100,000 passengers each year. East of Templecombe the single-track railway heads through Buckhorn Weston Tunnel, Gillingham and Tisbury stations (where there are passing loops) before joining the ex-GWR line from Westbury at Wilton Junction. From here it is but a short ride into Salisbury station from where the city’s famous sites such as the magnificent cathedral with its 404-ft-high spire, the 14th-century city walls with their 5 gates and the landscaped water meadows alongside the River Avon can all be explored on foot.
DESTINATION HIGHLIGHTS
13th-century cathedral and Britain’s oldest working clock; city walls and 5 gates; riverside walks; Queen Elizabeth Gardens; Poultry Cross Market (Tues and Sat); Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum inc Pitt Rivers Collection
FREQUENCY OF TRAINS
1 per hour
88 MILES 1 HOUR 50 MINUTES
NUMBER OF CHANGES: 0
One of the finest medieval buildings in Britain, Salisbury Cathedral also has the highest spire of any church in the country.
TAUNTON TO MINEHEAD
Opened between 1862 and 1874, the long branch line from Taunton to Minehead became a victim of Dr Beeching’s Axe when it was closed in 1971. However, with the support of Somerset County Council and hundreds, if not thousands, of volunteers and well-wishers the majority of this picturesque line, with its ten delightfully restored stations, was reopened as a heritage railway between 1976 and 1979. Today the West Somerset Railway (WSR) is Britain’s longest and one of the most successful standard-gauge heritage lines, with hundreds of thousands of visitors bringing a much-needed boost to the local tourist industry.
While restored vintage steam and diesel trains operate for much of the year between Minehead and Bishops Lydeard, the section south of here to the former junction with the ex-Great Western Railway’s Taunton to Exeter main line at Norton Fitzwarren sees only occasional use, and beyond here WSR trains are unable to reach Taunton. However, a connecting bus service operates between Taunton station and Bishops Lydeard station thus allowing this particular trip to be made without reverting to car travel.
From Bishops Lydeard station the WSR climbs up through the bucolic Somerset countryside, overlooked from the west by the Brendon Hills and from the east by the Quantocks. Occasional thatched cottages and burbling streams are glimpsed from the train as it proceeds slowly on its journey, pausing at Crowcombe Heathfield and Stogumber stations, to Williton where the railway has its restoration workshops. North of here the Bristol Channel is first glimpsed at Doniford Beach Halt before the line swings west to the historic harbour town of Watchet. It then climbs inland via Washford, where there is a railway museum, before rejoining the coastline at Blue Anchor, a favourite haunt of mobile holiday homes and caravans. The final leg of this superb trip offers fine views over the Channel to South Wales and inland to Dunster Castle and the wooded Brendon Hills, before ending close to the seafront at the popular seaside resort of Minehead.
DESTINATION HIGHLIGHTS
railway museums (Bishops Lydeard and Blue Anchor); Watchet Harbour; Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust (Washford); Dunster Castle and village; Minehead Harbour; open-top bus trips to Exmoor (Minehead, summer); South West Coast Path
FREQUENCY
Taunton to Bishops Lydeard: 2 buses per hour (Mon-Sat) 1 bus per hour (Sun) Bishops Lydeard to Minehead: 4-7 trains per day (March-end Oct, Christmas week and New Year’s Day)
24 MILES 20 MINUTES (BUS) + 1 HOUR 20 MINUTES (TRAIN)
NUMBER OF CHANGES: 1
(Bishops Lydeard)
A restored GWR small prairie tank steams towards Roebuck Lane level crossing on the West Somerset Railway with a train for Minehead.
TAUNTON TO EXETER
Engineered by Brunel, the main line between Taunton and Exeter was opened by the broad-gauge Bristol & Exeter Railway in 1844. The line was rebuilt with mixed-gauge track in 1876 when the company was also amalgamated with the Great Western Railway – the broad gauge was eliminated in 1892. Today trains can operate along this route up to a maximum speed of 100 mph and as there is only one intermediate station at Tiverton Parkway journey times are fairly rapid. Prior to the wholesale closures of the 1960s there were 9 intermediate stations and 5 branch lines (to Minehead, Barnstaple, Hemyock, Tiverton and Dulverton) along this stretch.
Trains for Exeter head off in a southwesterly direction from Taunton station and soon pass the new triangular junction laid at Norton Fitzwarren for the West Somerset Railway. The railway then climbs up the 1-in-80 gradient of Wellington Bank to the 1,092-yd Whiteball Tunnel and the summit of the line – it was down this bank that GWR 4-4-0 No. 3440 ‘City of Truro’ was apparently timed at 100 mph while hauling an ‘Ocean Mails’ special from Plymouth to London in 1904. Although there has been much debate about this feat it is highly likely that this was the first time that a steam train achieved this speed anywhere in the world.
From Whiteball Summit trains coast down to a stop at Tiverton Parkway station before descending into the lush valley of the River Exe to Cowley Bridge Junction. This infamous spot, the junction for the ‘Tarka Line’ to Barnstaple, is regularly flooded during periods of heavy rainfall, causing major disruption to services into Devon and Cornwall. Exeter St Davids station follows soon afterwards, from where visitors to the city centre can catch a connecting train up to Central station.
DESTINATION HIGHLIGHTS
12th-century cathedral; 11th-century Rougemont Castle; Danes Castle; St Nicholas Priory and Garden; Exeter Canal basin and riverside walks; 17th-century Butts Ferry; Royal Albert Memorial Museum; Spacex art gallery
FREQUENCY OF TRAINS
2 per hour
30¾ MILES 30 MINUTES
NUMBER OF CHANGES: 1