Brixham Railway Heritage Trail

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Brixham Railway Heritage Trail A project to transform Brixham’s disused railway line into a safe, traffic-free route connecting Brixham, Churston and Galmpton.

A greener way to walk, cycle, get to school and work, enjoy our countryside and celebrate our railway heritage. GLEN RALPH GARDNER
As the Project Lead for the Brixham Railway Heritage Trail project I bring with me many years of hospitality, operational, business development and project management skills. Born and raised in Brixham, the eldest son of Ralph and Gail Gardner, I moved away for about 20 years before returning in 2021 with my family. Rediscovering Brixham's amazing wealth of history has been brilliant. The Brixham Branch Line story really took hold of me, and since the summer of 2021 I have been determined to bring the story to the fore, and to mark the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the closure of the branch line in 1963. I decided this could be done by putting on talks / presentations, a new exhibition in Brixham Heritage Museum (where I am a trustee) and to open up the old branch line as a walking and cycling route for everyone to enjoy. Working with our project team, Carlton Jones, Mark Waters, Les Morris, Mark Sanders, James Nightingale, George Coles and Pauline Elliott, we look forward to repurposing the old branch line track-bed, and to delivering a really fantastic local community project.

Open to non members…
21/10/2026

Open to non members…

Head over to our website to see another image slider for a glimpse of the future traill. (screenshot only below)This tim...
19/10/2026

Head over to our website to see another image slider for a glimpse of the future traill. (screenshot only below)

This time, we've reimagined Copythorne Road bridge. The biggest challenge here will be to remove all the fly-tipped rubbish dumped here as recently as this summer!

Visit our website using the link below to see the trail future visualiser.https://brixhamrailwaytrail.org.uk/On the webs...
15/10/2026

Visit our website using the link below to see the trail future visualiser.
https://brixhamrailwaytrail.org.uk/
On the website, you can use the slider button to switch between the trail as it looks now to how we expect it to look in the future. Notice that all the trees that line the trail will be retained to enhance the experience!

We’re thrilled to see an article about the project in the latest Brixham Signal…
09/10/2026

We’re thrilled to see an article about the project in the latest Brixham Signal…

09/10/2026

Beth is doing an amazing job promoting Safe, Sustainable Travel Torbay

Here's the 1904 Ordnance Survey map superimposed over a modern day estate map. It shows exactly where the railway line ...
07/10/2026

Here's the 1904 Ordnance Survey map superimposed over a modern day estate map.

It shows exactly where the railway line bridge crossed Northfields Lane and the embankment either side. When the homes were built here, the embankment was flattened out, but less so on the Cumber Drive side where you can see that the land is still slighty raised.

As an aside, I noticed that where Penpethy Road meets Northfields Lane, the road sign reads "Northfield Lane" (i.e. with the "s" missing?)
I'm sure it's wrong. Did the Council signmaker make an error? Has anyone noticed it before?
I've checked Royal Mail 'Find Address', Ordnance Survey maps, Google and Bing maps and they all show the road as "Northfields Lane".

Look what we found in Northfield Lane…… the remains of the old rail track which would have formed part of the demolished...
06/10/2026

Look what we found in Northfield Lane…
… the remains of the old rail track which would have formed part of the demolished / removed Northfield Lane Railway Bridge.

We recently invited Nicky Bailey from South Devon National Landscape to see the line from Copythorne Road bridge up to E...
24/09/2026

We recently invited Nicky Bailey from South Devon National Landscape to see the line from Copythorne Road bridge up to Elberry Lane. Here we are stood above Elberry Lane near the bridge abutment where we hope to fix a new bridge over the lane. 😀

Brixham Toilet Block Update.Well, as most of you will be aware Torbay Council went ahead and demolished the old toilet b...
22/04/2026

Brixham Toilet Block Update.

Well, as most of you will be aware Torbay Council went ahead and demolished the old toilet block at Furzeham, against the wishes of over 1,500 people who signed our petition against its destruction!

Many more people also signed the official petition arranged by France’s Robinson.

We had some lovely plans for the building, which was there at the time of the Brixham Railway Station, including short term plans to paint it, fix the roof, and install a series of Brixham railway information panels.
Longer term we planned to open it up, after some further restoration and refurbishment, as a coffee bar, Brixham Railway Heritage Trail project information point, and public toilet while retaining a little it of history.

It wasn’t to be, despite us checking it inside and out to assess the building’s structural integrity, and we were able to confirm that there was no asbestos. The roof tiles’s design had mild / minimum traces of asbestos, but speaking with the onsite demolition team, they said there was no harm to people from these tiles, hence why there was no asbestos specialists on site during the councils destruction of the building.

The cost to Torbay Council Tax payers of demolishing the old toilet block far exceeded that of what our plan was going to cost.

Our project would have seen many members of the local community coming together to help repair, paint, and upgrade the building to become a lovely feature on Furzeham Green.

Thank you everyone who offered their time and resources when we had hoped to do something with the old toilet block.
This includes local roofers, paint suppliers, councillors, builders, and many local people who wanted to help.

Keep an eye out for some positive news soon about our main project to open up the old Brixham Railway as a walking trail.

Brixham Railway Heritage Trail

13/04/2026

Workers turning up to knock down the derelict toilet block were met by protestors.

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New Road
Brixham
TQ58LZ

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+447957454393

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