APRIL 2024 · ROAM
Obtain white light
Axe Valley, Devon
The Seaton Tramway runs 4.5 miles on narrow gauge track between Seaton on the Devon coast and Colyton in the Axe Valley. The trams are double-deckers, painted in red and cream, built to a scale that is slightly smaller than you expect — not model trains but not quite full size either. Riding them is unhurried in a specific way, the speed dictated by what was possible on a system built for a narrower world.
On the platform at Seaton there's a sign in period railway typography. It reads: OBTAIN WHITE LIGHT BEFORE PROCEEDING. It comes from an earlier operational language when signalling was done with lamps and the colour of the light told you whether the line was clear. Nobody has taken it down.
Riding them is unhurried in a specific way, the speed dictated by what was possible on a system built for a narrower world.
Seaton Tramway — April 2024
The tram passes through nature reserves along the Axe estuary. The wildlife — egrets on the water, wading birds — is directly visible from the open upper deck. None of it ended up on camera. The focus was the tram itself: the interior wooden seating and large windows framing the passing fields, the corner detail of the curved exterior in pink and red paint, the number 10 on the side of one car in orange livery on a tree-lined section of track.
The station shelter at Seaton has a curved roof and wooden benches and period signage arranged with the logic of a system that still takes its own conventions seriously.
The empty track ahead of the tram, the green overhead poles receding to the horizon, the agricultural fields flat on both sides. The Axe Valley in April is bright green and entirely undemonstrative.
Red and cream double-decker tram on narrow gauge track through open countryside with golden grassland
Stop sign on tram station platform with white lettering 'Obtain white light before proceeding'
Seaton station shelter interior with wooden benches and period signage under curved roof
Red and orange double-decker tram numbered 10 on curved track through tree-lined setting
Empty railway line with green overhead poles receding into distance alongside flat agricultural fields
Red tram on single track viewed from behind with golden grassland stretching to horizon
Double-decker tram with red upper body and cream lower section stopped at platform with view of fields
Interior of heritage tram car showing wooden seating and large windows with countryside views
Corner detail of tram exterior with round light and curved windows in pink and red paintwork
Heritage double-decker tram in pink and red livery at platform with passenger visible through windows
Close-up corner section of tram showing curved exterior in pink upper panels and red lower body