Exton railway station

Exton
Location
Place	Exton
Local authority	East Devon
Coordinates	50°40′05″N 3°26′37″W / 50.66792°N 3.44374°WCoordinates: 50°40′05″N 3°26′37″W / 50.66792°N 3.44374°W
Grid reference	SX980863
Operations
Station code	EXN
Managed by	Great Western Railway
Number of platforms	1
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11	19,312
2011/12	20,182
2012/13	19,458
2013/14	20,774
2014/15	23,078
History
Original company	London and South Western Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
1861	Opened as Woodbury Road
15 Sept.1958	Renamed Exton
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Exton from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Exton railway station is a railway station serving the village of Exton in Devon, England. It is situated on the Avocet Line which runs between Exeter St Davids and Exmouth.

History

A station known as Woodbury Road opened with the railway on 1 May 1861; It was renamed Exton on 15 Sept 1958 and became Exton Halt on 28 February 1965 but has since lost the "halt" suffix in common with most similar stations. Its location on the banks of the River Exe were exploited for many years by placing a camping coach in the goods yard that could be hired by holidaymakers.^[1]

Description

The station has a single platform that serves trains in both directions (it is on the left of a train arriving from Exeter) and faces out across the estuary of the River Exe.

The platform is much lower than usual in the United Kingdom which leads to a significant step up into the trains. This is difficult for the less mobile or for people with luggage, also while all trains carry wheelchair ramps, it is not possible to use them here. Requests to Railtrack and Network Rail to raise the platform have so far been unsuccessful.

Services

About half the trains on the Avocet Line from Exmouth to Exeter St Davids call at Exton on request – this means that passengers alighting here must tell the conductor that they wish to do so, and those waiting to join must signal clearly to the driver as the train approaches.

Beyond Exeter St Davids they generally continue to either Paignton or Barnstaple. Connections are available at Exeter Central for Pinhoe and stations to Waterloo; passengers for other main line stations change at St Davids.

References

1. Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (1992). Branch Lines to Exmouth. Midhurst: Middleton Press. ISBN 1-873793-00-6.