Editing Avocet Line (section)

===Exmouth and Salterton Railway===
Promoters of a line to fill the gap between Budleigh Salterton and Exmouth formed the ''Exmouth and Salterton Railway''. The L&SWR agreed to take over the scheme, and the line got parliamentary authority as part of the [[South Western Railway Act 1898]] ([[61 & 62 Vict.]] c. ciii) on 25 July 1898. The contractors were Henry Lovatt & Sons and the engineer was J. W. Jacomb-Hood of the L&SWR, and the line was built as an integral part of the larger company. It opened on 1 June 1903, with an intermediate station at Littleham.

The L&SWR considered at this stage making the junction at Exmouth a triangle, enabling a through Exeter - Exmouth - Budleigh Salterton service, but this was dropped on grounds of cost.<ref name = phillips/>{{page needed|date=March 2017}} (On some Ordnance Survey maps a pathway is indicated on the alignment that the third leg of the triangle would take, but the pathway was on the bank of a stream and there is no evidence that such a line was seriously planned. Carter Avenue now occupies part of this alignment.)

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 This material is moved from the "Sidmouth Railway" to here, where this topic is already described. Because there is so much overlap with the existing material above, I have left it commented out for now, trusting that someone more knowledgable can effect a better reconciliation.

While the Budleigh Salterton Railway was being built, trustees of the former landowner proposed a railway to connect Budleigh Salterton to Exmouth. However the detail of the proposals generated considerable antagonism, particularly due to the route through Exmouth, which would have bisected the town. The opposition forced a reconsideration, and eventually a more northerly route was adopted, leaving the existing Exmouth station in a northerly direction and then curving eastwards on a {{convert|352|yd|adj=on}} viaduct, and involving heavy earthworks. When built the line cost £111,378.

The promoters got their act for the '''Exmouth and Salterton Railway''' as part of the [[South Western Railway Act 1898]] ([[61 & 62 Vict.]] c. ciii) on 25 July 1898. The contractors were Henry Lovatt & Sons and the engineer was J. W. Jacomb-Hood of the L&SWR.

The L&SWR considered at this stage making the junction at Exmouth a triangle, enabling a through Exeter - Exmouth - Budleigh Salterton service, but this was dropped on grounds of cost.

There was one intermediate station at Littleham, with a passing loop, and the line made an end-on junction at Budleigh Salterton. At Exmouth the existing two-face platform was extended. The line passed its inspection and opened on 1 June 1903.<ref name = phillips>Derek Phillips, From Salisbury to Exeter: The Branch Lines, Oxford Publishing Company, Shepperton, 2000, {{ISBN|0 86093 546 9}}</ref>

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