Dawlish News

Exeter and Dawlish are in line to stage birthday celebrations for one of Britain's greatest engineers, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Next year marks 200 years since his birth and the South West, home of his Great Western Railway, is to be at the centre of commemoration events. Bristol is to take the leading role but celebrations are also pencilled in for Exeter and Dawlish. Brunel ran his wide-gauge railway to Exeter in 1844, building St David's station and then extending the line down the coast to Dawlish before heading inland.