| Lympstone Commando | |
| Symbol Location: | gb |
| Symbol: | rail |
| Borough: | Woodbury, East Devon |
| Country: | England |
| Coordinates: | 50.6623°N -3.441°W |
| Grid Name: | Grid reference |
| Manager: | Great Western Railway |
| Platforms: | 1 |
| Code: | LYC |
| Classification: | DfT category F2 |
| Original: | British Rail |
| Years: | 3 May 1976 |
| Events: | Opened |
| Footnotes: | Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road |
Lympstone Commando railway station serves the Lympstone Commando Camp on the Avocet Line, a branch line between Exeter and Exmouth in Devon, England.
Whilst signs on the station platform state that passengers alighting must have business with the Camp, this is no longer true and members of the general public can access the station via a public footpath.
The station was opened on 3 May 1976 by British Rail. This caused some confusion with the older Lympstone railway station, which was consequently renamed Lympstone Village.[1] It was built using cast platform sections recovered from Weston Milton railway station, where the track had been singled and one platform was no longer required.
For many years, troop trains were a feature of its operation about three times each year. The trains were operated with a locomotive at each end, as there is no way to run around a train south of Topsham; the leading locomotive on arrival was dragged back to Exeter Central where it was detached. The trains were considerably longer than the platform and loading the passengers was a slow operation, as they had to make their way through the train from the centre coaches. A similar operation today is difficult to arrange, as the regular timetabled passenger service is much more intensive than in the 1980s.
In November 2020, the platform was extended by to make it long.[2]
The station is situated on the banks of the estuary of the River Exe. It consists of a single platform, which is on the left of trains arriving from Exeter.
On 28 May 2010, a section of the Exe Estuary Trail opened between Lympstone and Exton;[3] this runs between the platform and the entrance to the camp.[4] As a result, the public can now access the station, although the sign on the platform continues to state that "persons alighting here must have business with the camp." The Ministry of Defence have accepted that the station is the property of Network Rail and, as such, they cannot prohibit members of the public from using the station; however, people wishing to take photographs from the platform should inform the guard room at the Commando Training Centre beforehand.[5]
Great Western Railway operate all trains serving the station. Trains stop here on a generally hourly basis between and, via ; however, all services call here on Saturdays.[6]
It is a request stop, meaning that passengers wishing to alight must tell the conductor that they wish to do so and those waiting to join must signal clearly to the driver as the train approaches.