Dawlish railway station

The station was opened by the South Devon Railway on 30 May 1846. The wall with bricked up windows that can be seen in the car park is the remains of the engine house that used to power the trains while they were worked by atmospheric power from 13 September 1847 until 9 September 1848. At this time, it was one of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's broad gauge railways. The station initially had just one platform on the landward side with a loop line closer to the sea, but a second platform was added to serve the loop line on 1 May 1858. The original wooden station and train shed burnt down on 14 August 1873. The South Devon Railway built a new station with the platforms connected by an iron bridge,…

The station is adjacent to the beach near the gardens at the centre of the town. The main frontage is in banded rusticated masonry. The remaining walls are rendered except for the east elevation, which faces the sea, which is in rubble stone. The station buildings are Grade II listed. It has two storeys, as the railway runs above street level, and a café occupies most of the street frontage. The main entrance is at road level on the side served by trains to Exeter St Davids. This opens onto a booking office with an ornate ceiling from where a flight of stairs lead up to the Exeter platform, but step-free access can be obtained through a gate from the car park beside the station buildings,…