1950s film of Exeter area, plus Cotfield Box?

[Ashley Hill]

This film from Memory Media appeared on my YouTube feed. It shows locomotives and trains in and around Exeter and the sea wall at Dawlish.
It also shows what is possibly Cotfield signal box. This was a break section box between Exminster and City Basin Jct and has been a very elusive box to find any photos of.
It’s a very interesting film for those from the South West.

Here’s a screenshot of what might possibly be Cotfield box.

 

[Cowley]

This film from Memory Media appeared on my YouTube feed. It shows locomotives and trains in and around Exeter and the sea wall at Dawlish.
It also shows what I believe to be Cotfield signal box. This was a break section box between Exminster and City Basin Jct and has been a very elusive box to find any photos of.
It’s a very interesting film for those from the South West.

Here’s a screenshot of what I believe is Cotfield box.
View attachment 196664

That’s brilliant. I didn’t even realise that there was a box on that section, but looking at the video would it have been parallel to The Double Locks roughly?

 

[Ashley Hill]

That’s brilliant. I didn’t even realise that there was a box on that section, but looking at the video would it have been parallel to The Double Locks roughly?

Having looked at various maps over the years and the NLS site I put the box roughly at the back of Makro. Red marks the spot.

Looking at the last clip with the Warship, it looks like it’s been filmed up a telegraph pole rather than Bridge Road. Stay wires can been seen close up in the shot.

 

[Gloster]

The yard at 1.00 is presumably Hele & Bradninch as the milepost appears to be 185. I presume that the photo is taken from the road with the exit from the Down Loop just visible. The siding is one that crossed the to the yard behind the station. Looks very different to my time there!

 

[Cowley]

Having looked at various maps over the years and the NLS site I put the box roughly at the back of Makro. Red marks the spot.
View attachment 196667
Looking at the last clip with the Warship, it looks like it’s been filmed up a telegraph pole rather than Bridge Road. Stay wires can been seen close up in the shot.

Yes I see where you mean. It was such a bucolic scene back then. Even in the 1980s it wouldn’t have looked that different actually.

When was the box removed do you know?

The yard at 1.00 is presumably Hele & Bradninch as the milepost appears to be 185. I presume that the photo is taken from the road with the exit from the Down Loop just visible. The siding is one that crossed the to the yard behind the station. Looks very different to my time there!

Was the spur into the paper mill still in use when you were there @Gloster?

 

[Ashley Hill]

When was the box removed do you know

It closed on the 02/4/64. Presumably demolished shortly after.

 

[Gloster]

Was the spur into the paper mill still in use when you were there @Gloster?

It was, but I think it went out of use shortly after I left in mid-1982. It was only a couple of wagons of coal every week or two if I remember correctly.

 

[Cowley]

It closed on the 02/4/64. Presumably demolished shortly after.

Thanks for that

 

[Rover]

A lovely nostalgic film brings back great memories of holidays as a little boy, thanks for posting that.

 

[Ashley Hill]

A comment on YouTube has suggested the box is Rewe as Cotfield was a ground box like Powderham. Given that a scene was filmed at Hele then this is entirely possible. Rewe itself was a box that was hardly photographed so if it is, then this glimpse is still a rarity!

 

[Cowley]

A comment on YouTube has suggested the box is Rewe as Cotfield was a ground box like Powderham. Given that a scene was filmed at Hele then this is entirely possible. Rewe itself was a box that was hardly photographed so if it is, then this glimpse is still a rarity!

Ah okay. At 2:42 in there’s a road in the background. I thought that was the Exeter bypass?

 

[Gloster]

A comment on YouTube has suggested the box is Rewe as Cotfield was a ground box like Powderham. Given that a scene was filmed at Hele then this is entirely possible. Rewe itself was a box that was hardly photographed so if it is, then this glimpse is still a rarity!

I would agree that it is probably not Cotfield. As Cotfield was on the Down side there would have been a lot of flat land behind it to the right of the image, not what appear to be hills in the background. Rewe was also on the Down and the country around seems generally correct; Rewe was a 28B design box, which looks right. So I would say that it is very probably Rewe.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Jan 2026 ==

Ah okay. At 2:42 in there’s a road in the background. I thought that was the Exeter bypass?

There’s traffic moving on it, so it’s not likely to be the notorious bypass. I can’t get it to play at the moment, but I wonder if that is the A38 above Hele: the motorway would block the view now.

 

[Ashley Hill]

I would agree that it is probably not Cotfield. As Cotfield was on the Down side there would have been a lot of flat land behind it to the right of the image, not what appear to be hills in the background.


There’s traffic moving on it, so it’s not likely to be the notorious bypass. I can’t get it to play at the moment, but I wonder if that is the A38 above Hele: the motorway would block the view now.

Ah okay. At 2:42 in there’s a road in the background. I thought that was the Exeter bypass?

I too though it was the old A379 in the background looking over Cotfield Farm and the hills in the distance the peak above the Devon Motel and out towards Redhills.
Looking at Adrian Vaughans book on the Exeter Re-signalling certainly confirms that Cotfield was a ground box. The SRS site also shows Rewe with the correct signals as Rewe (albeit the same as Cotfield).

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 31 Jan 2026 ==

I had a wander out to Columbjohn railway bridge the other day, there is no doubt that the signal box shown in the film is Rewe box. The weather was too poor for a photo, so good old Google Streetview provided this photo from the same viewpoint showing the location of the former box.
The search for a picture of Cotfield continues........