South Devon Railway sea wall

The South Devon Railway sea wall is situated on the south coast of Devon in England. A footpath runs alongside the railway between Dawlish Warren and Dawlish, and another footpath forms a continuation to the sea front promenade at Teignmouth. Both these form part of the South West Coast Path.

The South Devon Railway was built to the designs of Isambard Kingdom Brunel and takes a route from Exeter which follows the River Exe to Dawlish Warren, runs beneath the sea cliffs to Teignmouth, and then follows the River Teign to Newton Abbot. It follows tidal waters for about 13 miles, 4 of which are open sea.

The section was opened by the South Devon Railway Company, running from Exeter St Davids railway station to Teignmouth railway station on 30 May 1846 and extended to Newton Abbot railway station on 31 December 1846. It was a broad gauge railway of 7 feet ¼ inch gauge and intended to be worked as an atmospheric railway, although atmospheric trains only ran from 13 September 1847 until 9 September 1848.

The South Devon Railway was amalgamated into the Great Western Railway on 1 February 1876 and the gauge converted to the standard 4 feet 8½ inches after 20 May 1892. A station was opened to serve Dawlish Warren in 1905, all the other stations on the Sea Wall having opened with the line in 1846.

The Great Western Railway was nationalised into British Railways on 1 January 1948. The line is now owned by Network Rail and the stations and majority of trains operated by the modern-day Great Western Railway.

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