The LSWR opened its Exeter Extension from Yeovil Junction to Exeter Queen Street on July 19, 1860, but no station was provided at Pinhoe at that time. The village's station opened eleven years later on October 30, 1871. The original wooden footbridge was replaced by a concrete structure cast at nearby Exmouth Junction works, the first such footbridge erected by the Southern Railway, which had taken over from the LSWR in 1923.[1]
Goods facilities were provided from April 3, 1882, and in 1943, a government food cold store was built to the west of the station that was served by its own siding. The passenger station was closed on March 7, 1966 when the Western Region of British Railways withdrew the local stopping services from the line. Goods facilities were withdrawn on June 10, 1967 and the cold store siding (now operated by a private company) closed in 1979.[2]
The station was reopened by British Rail on May 16, 1983. Passengers waiting at the reopened station have glass and metal shelters.[1] Instead of serving a country village, it was now on the eastern edge of the expanding city. The initial trial period for commuter services proved successful,[1] and a regular service now operates all day, seven days a week.[3] Between 2003 and 2008, passenger numbers increased by 530%, and are still increasing with an estimate of 94,354 users in 2015–16, and in subsequent years consistently exceeding 100,000 passengers per year (except for 2020–21).[4]
A two-storey brick building between the road and the eastbound platform is the former stationmaster's house. The main station building used to be next to the house but was demolished after the station closed in the 1960s.
Location
The station is just south of the village centre to the west of Station Road, and access to the platforms is from this road. A footpath also links the eastbound platform with Main Road.[5]
The station was built next to the level crossing of Pinn Lane. This was operated by the station staff until 1875, when a small signal box was brought into use; it was situated on the north side of the line to the east of the road. The initial 11 levers were extended to 17 in 1943, when the cold store was built. On June 11, 1967, one of the two tracks between Pinhoe and Honiton was taken out of use, and trains towards London would often wait in the closed station for a westbound train to clear the 14-mile (23 km) single track section. The level crossing gates were replaced with lifting barriers on March 17, 1968. The signal box was closed on February 13, 1988, the level crossing and signals now being controlled from Exmouth Junction.[2] The old signal box was dismantled and re-erected in the railway museum at Bere Ferrers on the Tamar Valley Line.[1]
