The rugged terrain of the south-east Devon coastline meant that the railway passed some distance to the north of Sidmouth; the nearest station was Feniton, nine miles away.

[citation needed] On 18 December 1861, London promoters held a meeting for the purpose of forming a Company to build a railway branch line to Sidmouth and a harbour there.

Subscriptions were slow to be taken up, and the contractor Shrimpton complained that he was unable to make progress, as the engineer, H. H. Bird, had not supplied adequate plans.

Possibly learning from the delays encountered in constructing the neighbouring Seaton Branch Line, there was a penalty clause for late completion of the work.

Nonetheless Relf got into difficulties, asking the company for extra payment as he found that he had under-priced the station work, designs for which had not been completed at the time of tendering.

Col F H Rich of the Railway Inspectorate of the Board of Trade duly made the inspection and passed the line for opening.

On leaving the station, the line curved round to the south falling at 1 in 110 and then 1 in 53, followed by flattish gradients to Ottery St Mary, 2 miles 78 chains from Sidmouth Junction; there was a crossing loop.

[citation needed] The branch was worked by staff and ticket at first, with Tyers electric train tablet system being introduced in 1904.

[citation needed] Locomotive power initially was restricted to those suitable for use on light railways, and this is thought to include Beattie 2-4-0 well tanks.

[1][page needed] Through coaches were discontinued in 1964 except on summer Saturdays, as the local trains were diesel multiple units.

[1][page needed] In January 2019, Campaign for Better Transport released a report identifying the line was listed as Priority 2 for reopening.