If you wanted to travel from London to Exeter in the 1950's you had a choice of comparable trains. Expresses from Paddington and Waterloo did the trip in around 3 hours. But in 1963 the Beeching report sought to remove duplication and the former Southern Region route to Exeter from Waterloo via Salisbury and Yeovil was downgraded to a secondary route. In the spring of 1967 much of the railway between Salisbury (Wilton) and Exeter (Pinhoe) was converted to single track with passing places between Gillingham and Yeovil Junction, Chard Junction and Honiton. Services were cut to run every 2 hours and journey times became longer. These photos taken in the early 1980s show the state of the line then.
Top left to bottom right: Gillingham, Axminster, Seaton Junction, Honiton, Feniton (Sidmouth Junction) and Broadclyst.
In recent years passing places have been added at Tisbury and Axminster to allow a faster more frequent service. Hourly trains now run between Exeter and Waterloo.The line also has a vital role as a diversionary route when the GWR line via Taunton's blocked by flooding or engineering work. When this happens services have to be re-timetabled to allow the extra trains to pass on the limited double track sections. This and plans for more frequent "Devon Metro" trains to Honiton and Axminster have led to calls for a further double track section near Cranbrook. Recently (Oct 2019) Devon County Council was told that it could be another ten years before there's funding for the passing loop meaning extra trains and an improved diversionary route will have to wait for the moment.