Terry worked as a fireman on the line in the late 1950s. “We were in a deep cutting as we climbed up from Axminster through Trill Woods. I will never forget looking up and seeing a mass of bluebells that looked as tall as trees. It was a beautiful sight. People talk about the Bluebell Railway being in Sussex but I reckon we had more bluebells.”

Donald is remembered by his daughter Wendy Cummins, who lives in Beer. “My father moved from East London to Seaton with his wife and her parents in 1955. He had worked as a clerk in London but on moving to Devon found there wasn't similar employment available but there was a position as a porter at Axminster Station. He started work there in March 1955 and went on to qualify as a 1st Class Relief Signalman. He worked on the Seaton and Lyme Regis Branch Lines plus from Exeter to Salisbury. He was made redundant in 1968 as part of the Beeching cuts. He then completed 15 years as an NHS ambulance driver until his retirement.” See details of Donald’s book below.

As a child in the 1950s, Sally Down lived in the village of Combpyne, nearly a mile from the remote railway station of the same name. With older members of her family committed, she was despatched aged eight to collect prescriptions for her sick mother. She cycled to the station, hid her bike in a hedge and bought a return ticket to Axminster.  There, she ran at full tilt from the station to collect her mother’s prescription from the doctor’s surgery, trying desperately to get back to the station before the train began its return journey. Often, she missed it and then had a two-hour wait for the next. Sally vividly recalls one of her first journeys when, on arriving back at Combpyne station, she was unable to reach out of the carriage window to open the door. No-one was around to hear her cries for help as the train rolled on into Lyme Regis. Only at that point did a member of the platform staff spot her plight, dried her tears and ensured that the driver / fireman were aware of her as they headed back down the line. 

The late Margaret’s (pictured) memory was told to us by her daughter Lois Wakeman. “My mum told me about disembarking from the station carrying her suitcase as a child, and walking down the road with her parents to the Holiday Fellowship place that used to be in Coram Court. This was probably in the early or mid-1930s. She still remembered the wonderful view across the bay in her 80s. Where we live now, we can see the overgrown viaduct from the back fence of our garden!”

“It would be hard to forget the day when I was cleaning the brassware in the gentlemen’s toilet (at Lyme Regis Station) and the ball in the cistern ceased to float at the moment when I was working with the polishing cloth and Brasso. Without warning, the water started to pour out over the top of the cistern and I was soaked from head to toe. Since I had no change of clothing, I borrowed a raincoat and after doing a striptease act spent the morning hiding from each and every person who showed their face at the counter.”

“As a boy living in Uplyme, I used to run down to the train to catch the local bundle of copies of the ‘Express and Echo’. The driver used to throw the whole bundle down to me and he knocked me down every time! When I later got a job as a fireman on Lyme Billy we used to deliver a copy of the paper each evening to a man called Mr Parmenter who lived near Combpyne Station. His dog ran out when he heard the train coming and we threw the paper down to him. He caught it every time and rushed off indoors to give it to his master.”

My history of this line goes to the 60s when on holiday with grandparents who lived in Musbury we would catch the train from Axminster to Lyme Regis and walk down the hill into town. Gran would do her shopping and we would have an ice cream. The platform for the train was over the bridge in a siding going the wrong way if I remember rightly 🤔 We could see Axminster carpet factory but I have no memory where the line went from there 🤷‍♀️

“Most ‘Luggage in Advance’ would arrive with us on a Thursday or Friday. It was surprising just how many people paid the 2s 6d (12.5p) for collection from their houses and carriage to the station. For an extra 3d it would be delivered to the guest house or hotel door.”