Riviera Line in the 50s Dawlish Station

Slowly though ‘Mixed Gauge’ began to eat its way south into GWR territory as the arrangements for trans-shipment from one mode to the other for onward travel became a major bugbear. Following further action from Parliament, the continuation of Broad Gauge was a lost cause. However, the required space for operating a Broad Gauge railway meant that on conversion to Standard Gauge, available land was extremely generous. Something which the GWR would not always learn to take advantage of as we shall see from one particular line on the south coast. The Dawlish Station to the railfan with it.