Читать книгу Railway Day Trips: 160 classic train journeys around Britain - Julian Holland - Страница 19

This is a lovely day trip along the former London & South Western Railway’s switchback main line (opened in 1860) through the rolling East Devon, Dorset and Wiltshire countryside to the historic cathedral city of Salisbury. Trains leave Exeter Central station and head east to Pinhoe from where the railway is single track as far as Yeovil Junction. Trains call at Whimple and Feniton en route before arriving at the picturesque market town of Honiton, once a centre of the lace-making industry. Here there is a passing loop, and a short distance to the east the railway reaches its first summit before plunging into 1,345-yd Honiton Tunnel to race downhill to the former carpet-making town of Axminster and another passing loop. Here, branch line trains used to wend their way up to Lyme Regis station until closure in 1965. Beyond Axminster the railway heads through the closed Chard Junction station, where there is a further passing loop, and up to Hewish Summit and the 206-yd Crewkerne Tunnel before arriving at Crewkerne station which, like many of the stations along this route, is some distance from the town centre. At Yeovil Junction the railway becomes double track again as far as Templecombe, with an intermediate stop at Sherborne.

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.