Venn Cross railway station

Venn Cross railway station served isolated villages on the borders of Devon and Somerset to the west of Wiveliscombe. It was on the Devon and Somerset Railway that ran between Taunton and Barnstaple. The Devon and Somerset was operated by the Bristol and Exeter Railway and was taken over with the B&E by the Great Western Railway.

The section of the line between Wiveliscombe and Barnstaple opened on 1 November 1873. Venn Cross station was originally on a single track part of the line at the western end of the Venn Cross tunnel, and had a single platform with a building set back away from the platform on the road side. A crossing loop was installed with a second platform in 1905. The station had a signalbox on the original down platform and a goods shed to the west of the station. One of the signals was of an unusual design with a central pivot to allow it to be seen through Venn Cross tunnel.Adams, John & Whitehouse, Patrick (1976), "Western Steam in camera". Pub. Ian Allan, Shepperton. ISBN 0-7110-0695-4. P. 36.] Because the Devon/Somerset border crosses the line at the station, the goods shed and the western ends of the platforms were in Devon, while the main station buildings were in Somerset.

Goods traffic was withdrawn from Venn Cross in 1963 and the station closed to passenger traffic with the closure of the Devon and Somerset line on 3 October 1966. The station building and the station master's house are still in residential use and the goods shed has also been converted into a house. Other railway paraphernalia such as railings and a set of signals remain nearby.

ervices

###@@@KEYEND@@@###

References

* Somerset Railway stations, Mike Oakley, Dovecote Press, Wimborne, 2002. ISBN 1 904349 09 9