Morebath Junction railway station

The railway junction at Morebath was opened in 1884 to connect the newly built Tiverton and North Devon Railway with the Devon and Somerset Railway that had been completed in 1873. The T&NDR became part of the Exe Valley Railway in 1885. The Great Western Railway operated the D&SR from the outset and took it over in 1901.

Morebath Junction is the only location in Britain to have had a signalwoman in the 19th century.[1] Mrs Town was appointed in 1890, and in October 1913 The Railway Magazine reported that she was "very proud" of her job after 23 years' service and hoped to continue indefinitely.[1]

The GWR opened a halt near Morebath Junction in 1928. Trains on both lines called there, giving it a more frequent service than Morebath station on the Devon and Somerset line about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the east. Morebath Junction Halt was much nearer Morebath village, but was accessible only by a footpath across fields. It's recorded that passengers walking to the halt stored their boots under the bench in the waiting hut, and retrieved them on their return for the walk home across the wet fields.[2]

The halt was a single platform and was designated as a halt throughout its working life. Trains on the Exe Valley line continued to terminate at Dulverton, the next station to the west. British Railways withdrew services from the Exe Valley line in 1963 and from the Devon and Somerset line in 1966.

• Oakley, Mike (2007). Devon Railway Stations. Wimborne: Dovecote Press. ISBN 1-904349-55-2.
• Wojtczak, Helena (2005). Railwaywomen: Exploitation, Betrayal and Triumph in the Workplace. Hastings: Hastings Press. p. 11. ISBN 1-904109-04-7.