Dawlish Railway Station, Devon (Dawlish)

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Railway station by the sea on one of the most beautiful sections of railway in the UK.

Dawlish railway station serves the town of Dawlish in Devon, England. The station and line is built on the sea wall, and regularly suffers from storm damage from its proximity to the sea. West of the station the line passes through 5 tunnels through the cliffs.

The station is adjacent to the beach near the lawns at the centre of the town. The main entrance is on the side served by trains to Exeter. The route from the booking office to the platform is by way of a staircase, but more level access can be obtained through a gate from the car park between the station buildings and the distinctive old signal box.

Access to the opposite platform is by way of a footbridge. Passengers who cannot manage the steps can be escorted across the barrow crossing by the station staff.

[edit] History
The station was opened by the South Devon Railway on 30 May 1846. It initially had just one platform but a second was added on 1 May 1858.


A view of Dawlish in 1892 when the broad gauge track was being converted to standard gauge.Trains were worked by atmospheric power from 13 September 1847 until 9 September 1848. The strange wall with bricked up windows that can be seen in the car park is the remains of the atmospheric engine house.

The old wooden station was burnt down on 14 August 1873 and the present buildings opened to replace it on 12 April 1875.

The South Devon Railway was amalgamated into the Great Western Railway on 1 February 1876, which in turn was nationalised into British Railways on 1 January 1948.