AN EXPEDITIOUS TRANSIT, EXETER, 1845.

 "SIR,

"Exmouth is the Port of Exeter - the District intervening between the two places is beautiful in the extreme. A Railway connecting the two places will be equally advantageous to each:  it will afford the Exonians an expeditious transit to the nearest point of the sea - and it will place the inhabitants and visitors of Exmouth within a half an hour's journey of the Railways of Exeter

"The advantage the Line will be to Topsham, Lympstone, &c., is equally obvious. The Line moreover will pass through a very populous as well as beautiful District - offering no engineering difficulties whatever.

"There is no Branch Line that has been named in Devonshire - there is rarely one in England - which can be fairly compared to the Line connecting Exeter with  its port, either in point of accommodation, public importance, or as a matter of Speculation for Capitalists.

"Great credit is due to the gentlemen of Exeter that they have started the scheme, instead of allowing it to fall into the hands of mere adventurers.  

"The interests of the projectors are so closely allied to the interests of Exeter and its neighbourhood, that they are one and the same - the one cannot be injured without seriously affecting the other: they, better than any other party, ought to see and know what is likely to benefit the city, its port and the public; and the proposed scheme is a proof that they are alive to those interests"

*

This 'puff' for an  Exeter to Exmouth railway appeared in a letter to the editor of The Exeter Flying Post (17th August, 1845,) that is to say in the heady days of  the 'railway mania'.   It was written by an anonymous writer who, clearly, had an interest in the matter.   The idea had been discussed by the gentlemen of Exeter since 1825.  The merchants always had difficulties dispatching and receiving goods.  The estuary was too shallow in early Victorian times for ships to trust the channels and even lighters came no closer than Topsham.  As for those citizens who did not trade, and the children of Exeter, especially those who had buckets and spades, they dreamed of a cheap and easy ride to the seaside.

In fact it was not until 16 years after this letter was published that the railway was opened and by that time a goodly number of mere adventurers were involved.

Nowadays the line is called The Avocet Line, which is a good name, though the avocets prefer the eastern banks of the estuary.  The ride is still beautiful in the extreme, at least between Topsham and Exmouth.

Rarely one for scarcely one is curious, or perhaps not.