West of England Main Line

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West of England Main Line

Legend London Waterloo Queenstown Road Clapham Junction Earlsfield Wimbledon Raynes Park New Malden Berrylands Surbiton Esher Hersham Walton-on-Thames Weybridge Byfleet & New Haw West Byfleet Woking Brookwood Farnborough Fleet Winchfield Hook Basingstoke Woking Junction for South Western Main Line to Eastleigh Overton Whitchurch Andover Grateley Wessex Main Line to Portsmouth Salisbury Wilton Junction for Wessex Main Line to Bristol Tisbury Gillingham Templecombe Sherborne Pen Mill Junction for Yeovil Pen Mill Yeovil Junction Crewkerne Axminster Honiton Feniton Whimple Pinhoe Exmouth Junction Avocet Line to Exmouth Exeter Central Exeter St Davids for GWML to Penzance and Riviera Line to Paignton

The West of England Main Line is the British railway line from London Waterloo to Exeter.

The main towns served by the route are listed below. The line between London and Basingstoke is shared with the South Western Main Line.

• London Waterloo
• Clapham Junction
• Woking
• Basingstoke
  • Route converges from Reading, diverges to Winchester and Southampton (see South Western Main Line)
• Andover
• Salisbury
  • Route converges from Southampton, diverges to Westbury (see Wessex Main Line)
• Tisbury
• Gillingham
• Templecombe
• Yeovil Junction
• Crewkerne
• Axminster
• Honiton
• Exeter Central
  • Route converges from Exmouth (See Avocet Line)
• Exeter St. David's
  • services continue to Newton Abbot, Paignton and Plymouth (via Great Western Main Line)
  • Original Plymouth route exists as far as Okehampton, currently a preservation society runs summer services from Exeter to Okehampton.

Passenger services are currently operated by South West Trains using Class 159 and Class 170/3 trains. Currently trains run half hourly from London to Salisbury, hourly to Yeovil Junction and two hourly to Exeter. There are proposals to double the frequency to Exeter [1]; however, the long single track section between Yeovil and Exeter limits capacity and any increase would require the construction of new passing loops (possibly at Whimple and Axminster, according to local media reports).

The line is not electrified (except for the SWML portion).

[edit] See also

• London and South Western Railway for history of the route, which formerly continued to Plymouth and Cornwall.

[edit] References

• Network Rail Buisness Plan 2006: Route 3 - South West Main Line (PDF)
• Network Rail Buisness Plan 2006: Route 4 - Wessex Routes (PDF)
• Network Rail Buisness Plan 2006: Route 12 - Reading to Penzance (PDF)

v • d • e Railway lines in South-East England:
Main lines:		Arun Valley Line   Ashford via Maidstone East Line   Ashford-Ramsgate via Canterbury Line   Brighton Main Line   Chatham Main Line   East Coastway   Hastings Line   Channel Tunnel Rail Link   Kent Coast Line   North Downs Line   Portsmouth Direct Line   South Eastern Main Line   South Western Main Line   Thameslink   West Coastway   West of England Main Line
Commuter lines:		Alton Line   Ascot-Guildford Line   Bexleyheath Line   Caterham Line   Catford Loop   Chessington Branch   Dartford Loop   Eastleigh-Fareham Line   Eastleigh-Romsey Line   Greenwich Line   Hayes Line   Hounslow Loop   Mid-Kent Line   New Guildford Line   North Kent Line   Nunhead to Lewisham link   Oxted Line   Sheerness Line   Slough-Windsor & Eton Line   South London Line   Staines-Windsor & Eton Line   Staines to Weybridge Line   Sutton Mole Valley Line   Tattenham Corner Line   Waterloo-Reading Line   West London Line
Rural lines:		Brockenhurst-Lymington Line   Henley Branch Line   Island Line   Marlow Branch Line   Marshlink Line   Medway Valley Line   Redhill-Tonbridge Line

v • d • e  Railway lines in South-West England and the "Great Western" zone :
Main lines:	Cross-Country Route   Great Western Main Line  Cherwell Valley Line   Gloucester-Newport Line   Exeter-Paignton "Riviera" Line   South Wales Main Line    Wessex Main Line   West of England Main Line
Commuter lines:	Severn Beach Line   Slough-Windsor & Eton Line
Rural lines:	Exeter-Barnstaple "Tarka" Line   Exeter-Exmouth "Avocet" Line   Golden Valley Line   Heart of Wessex Line    Henley Branch Line   Looe Valley Line   Marlow Branch Line   Par-Newquay "Atlantic Coast" Line    St Ives Bay Line   Tamar Valley Line   Truro-Falmouth "Maritime" Line

Richard Adams' Watership DownEdit
Novels: Watership Down - Tales from Watership Down
Adaptations: Feature film - TV series
Characters: Bigwig - Blackavar - Blackberry - Campion - Cowslip - Dandelion - Fiver - General Woundwort - Hazel - Hyzenthlay - Kehaar - Vervain - Minor characters
Mythical/story creatures: El-ahrairah
Locations: Efrafa - River Enborne - Railway line - Redstone - River Test - Watership Down
Other: Chief Rabbit - Concepts in Watership Down - Lapine - Owsla