Minehead

Minehead is another town which grew rapidly as seaside holidays mushroomed in popularity, and particulary benefitted when the original West Somerset Railway extended into Minehead in 1874 from Watchet. More details about the Railway and the way the town developed, into a town from some scattered housing and a small harbour, can be found in the booklet "They must have been Mad" written by John Dixon and is available from the Friends of Minehead Station.

The Railway Station grew from being a small seaside terminal and its final stage of development took place in 1933 when the platform reached its present length of a quarter of a mile. The Signal box at the Station throat once saw service at Dunster but was moved to Minehead as traffic grew in the early years of the "preservation era". There was once a loco shed but this was demolished by British Rail when steam finished on the national network. Today the former goods shed has been converted and extended to house the West Somerset Railway's Locomotive Department's workshops and facilities. The station building currently is home to the Railway's administrative offices and also the Buffer Stop Shop which carries a full range of gifts and souvenirs as well as model railway equipment old and new and a good range of soft drinks and sweets. There is also a comprehensive range of transport books and videos. The shop offers a mail order service. (see the shop page for more).

The booking office is at the front of the building, which dates from the 1980s and was constructed by volunteers, paid staff and participants in a job creation scheme. The internal woodwork and windows come from the old booking office at Cardiff Central Station. Click here to see more about fares from Minehead.

Station Maintenance is carried out by the Friends of Minehead Station whose main fundraiser is Readers Halt second hand book stall on the Platform.
Today's passenger arriving at Minehead has a choice of directions and destinations to follow from the station entrance. A right turn takes you along the seafront towards Butlins holiday centre. The path continues past the centre and the golf course and can be followed to Dunster Beach and Blue Anchor.
Passengers looking for the beach have simply to cross the road, and there it is. Being sited on the English Channel there is a wide tidal range on the beach and some care should be taken about range and speeds of tides.
Crossing the road and walking along the esplanade takes you towards the tall feature of North Hill. Along the way you pass the start of the South West Coast Path, which if followed in its entirety will take you to Poole Harbour via Lands End in Cornwall. The road eventually reaches the harbour which is the point where historic ships, the "Waverley" and the "Balmoral" pay their periodic visits to the town, bringing loads of visitors (and some passengers to the Railway) in an evocation of the Great Days of Bristol Channel Shipping. For those seeking some quiet and tranquillity turning off the esplanade and up into North Hill is recommended but be aware that there is some hard hill climbing involved.
The left turn out of the Station takes you past the Beach Hotel, popular with coach companies as a base for touring the area and into the main shopping area of the town. This is the usual mixture of seaside souvenir shops and the more specialised outlets, the latter being further from the Seafront.
As you would expect there is a variety of accommodation to suit all pockets in Minehead and apart from the railway journey it is a good base to explore Exmoor and the Quantock Hills.
Minehead Station has a booking office and the fares from the Station can be viewed at our Fares Pages. The Station also has full toilet facilities for both able and disabled passengers as well as baby changing facilities.

For more about places to stay and things to do in Minehead please click on the logo below for more information

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