An Aside At Axminster 2

And So, Off To The Pub

The Ale Way is a pub created in the former Station Master's house at Axminster.

In fine weather a few chairs and tables are available outside ...

... with a view of happenings on the platforms. Under normal circumstances those happenings soon lose their frisson of excitement as, once every hour, a Class 159 diesel from Waterloo to Exeter ...

... crosses with a class 159 from Exeter to Waterloo. And that, East Devon trainspotters, is all you get. Occasionally, when the GWR main line was closed, you did get an HST; but fbb does not think the new Hitachi trains are authorised for that diversion.

On the ground floor of the former Station Master's residence is the bar ...

... and one other small room. All the rooms are small; hardly luxurious for the man in charge of a busy station! In an upstairs back room is a map, an enlargement of an Ordnance Survey old map.

It shows very clearly the branch line from Seaton Junction to Seaton ...

... but of the former branch to Lyme Regis, just outside the window, there was no cartographic sign.

fbb does not know whether these maps belong to the pub or to the Model Railway group. He guesses the former as they just fit a whole wall!

But, for fbb, the highlight of the pub's exhibition delights was another of the upstairs rooms, equipped with a large TV screen. It was along a corridor past the "usual offices".

The third upstairs room was quaint and, by the way, the stairs were steep. Your blogger found his ascent reasonably easy, but the downwards trend was tricky!

The end room was showing a "simulation".

We were to watch a computer recreation of a journey from Axminster to Lyme Regis in real time. fbb is not at all familiar with how you go about creating a railway journey simulation, but this one was really very good indeed. OK, the trees suffer from a dash of similarity at times and occasionally bits of scenery just flick into place; but otherwise it's very impressive.

Mind you, fbb has never ridden the Lyme Regis branch so he was easily pleased!

The train would have left from a bay platform on the north side of Axminster station. Please note the old footbridge, the signal box and the massive water tower all now confined to history.

The branch curves round past the Axminster carpets factory ...

... then "flys over" the main line.

Abbey Gate is where the line crosses the road, a familiar route for the fbbs, between Axminster and Seaton.

Next comes an overbridge at Trill.

While crossing open country, the simulation cuts to a few historic pictures of the real railway. This Adams Tank is a model and is distorted ...

... because fbb has straightened up the screen which was set diagonally to his seat. Sorry to distort your creation, Mr Adams.

The good news is that the video of the simulation is available on YouTube. Well worth a leisurely look at the moving pictures..

And here comes Combpyne, the only intermediate stop on the branch.

And next is a still of the real station, cut in to the simulation.

Look at the building partly hidden by the station sign. Here it is today ...

.. with that former booking office now part of a superb private house. Nothing else remains, but there wasn't very much to remain!

The simulation passes Uplyme, where, oddly, there was never a station.

But, before that, the best bit isn't the best bit!

The wonderful Cannington Viaduct, still standing ...

... doesn't look too spectacular at track level. 

But the simulation does turn to recreate the view east and west. The road below the arches leads down the hill from the Seaton to Axminster Road ...

... a route often travelled by fbb as he exhibits the lovely viaduct to visitors at his mansions. Above we see the buildings on the simulation and below, the reality.

So not quite the same - but maybe the structures have changed a touch since the branch closed.

But soon we arrive at Lyme Regis's horribly inconvenient station over half a heavy breathing mile to climb back above the town centre.

There is nothing obvious left of the station today ...

... but our train pulls into the platform and our delightful simulated journey is complete.

Nice bus!

Oh, how fbb wishes one or other of his doting relatives had taken him for a ride. What is worse,  he never rode a train all the way to Seaton, his journeys went only as far as Colyton!

  Next Whitby blog : Weds 30 July