The Seaton Tramway is a 838 mm (2ft 9 inches) narrow gauge electric tramway in the East Devon district of South West England. It runs alongside the Axe Estuary and the River Coly, a distance of approximately 5km (3miles) between the seaside resort of Seaton, the village of Colyford, and the ancient town of Colyton. For much of its route, it operates between the estuary and the Seaton Wetlands nature reserves, offering views of the wildlife.
The tramway operates over part of the former Seaton Branch Line, which closed in March 1966. It was established in 1970 by Claude Lane, founder of Modern Electric Tramways Ltd, which had previously operated in Eastbourne between 1954 and 1969. There are currently Fourteen tramcars all of which are based on classic British designs, and vary in size between half-scale (1:2) and two thirds-scale (2:3). Most were built from scratch by Claude Lane and/or his successor Allan Gardner, but three were rebuilt from full-size cars which originally ran in London, Bournemouth and Exeter.
This video is an attempt to give a flavour of a trip on the upper open air deck of tramcar number 9 from two camera angles. This car is based on design elements from Plymouth and Blackburn tramcars, its body being built by Bolton Trams Ltd in 2002 and its trucks and all other fitting out by Seaton Tramway.
The Tramway is a single line system, with passing loops roughly every half mile. The trams run to a timetable which includes scheduled passes at designated passing loops. A single line token system operates between Seaton and Riverside and two-way radio system is also used to keep drivers in touch with the duty inspector. The scheduled journey time from Seaton to Colyford is 15 minutes, and Colyford to Colyton is a further 12 minutes, making a total journey time of 27 minutes. Prior to the new halts at Riverside and Wetlands opening, the journey time was 23 minutes.
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