Sidmouth & Budleigh Salterton Branches

Sidmouth in Devon was already popular as a health resort before the railway age, which first embraced the town in 1836 when a short railway was constructed to move building materials to the site of a new harbour. The story of this is briefly told in the book’s first chapter. It was not until 1874 that Sidmouth got a connection to the main network of the L&SWR. Further development came with the construction of the Budleigh and Salterton Railway, which opened in 1897 from Tipton St John’s to Budleigh Salterton. In 1903, this was extended to Exmouth. The lines enjoyed healthy summer season passenger figures into the 1950s, but the usual fate befell them in the 60s, and closure came in 1967. Originally published in 1996, this title has been unavailable for many years and is a straight reprint of the 1996 edition in the traditional A5 Oakwood format. Nine chapters cover the early history, descriptions of the lines, train services, locomotives and coaches etc.