Exmouth Junction

Exmouth Junction is the railway junction where the Exmouth branch line diverges from the London Waterloo to Exeter main line in Exeter, Devon, England. It was for many years the location for one of the largest engine sheds in the former London and South Western Railway. The sidings served the railway’s concrete casting factory as well as a goods yard.HistoryThe London and South Western Railway (LSWR) opened its main line from to Exeter Queen Street on 19 July 1860, and a branch line from Exeter to on 1 May the following year. The junction of the two lines was 1.1mi from Queen Street, just east of the 263yd Blackboy Tunnel.An engine shed was initially provided at Queen Street but as the number of trains serviced grew too many for the cramped site, a new shed was opened at Exmouth Junction in 1887 on land to the north of the main line. It was rebuilt in brick and concrete in the 1920s by the Southern Railway (SR, which had taken over the LSWR in 1923), and at its peak in the period between 1930 and 1960 it typically had an allocation of over 120 locomotives, as well as being responsible for engines at other depots in the south west. It was closed to steam locomotives in 1965 and finally closed in 1967.Concrete works were established near the engine shed which converted into a coal concentration depot after closure, whilst the site of the shed itself was turned over to a supermarket in 1979. The coal concentration depot received its last delivery in the late 1990s and has seen little use since. In the 1990s the area was used as a depot for railway maintenance machines and a new small shed built. After privatisation it was operated by Jarvis Plant, but this had ceased by early 2008 and the shed demolished.