DAWLISH railway station has been given a brand new look.

The Grade II listed station has now been returned to its traditional colours of chocolate and cream with new signage and painting.

The work has been carried out by rail operator Great Western Railway which is responsible for the station.

The bulk of the redecoration has been to repaint surfaces and a decision was made by GWR to restore the colour scheme to British Railways Western region colours from post 1948 to mid-1960s, which are chocolate and cream, with elements of white and black.

The posts of one of the remaining historic ‘running boards’, the large signs which display the name of the station have been reinstated at their original height of about seven feet.

The station was built in an Italianate style for South Devon Railway, and opened in 1875 on the site of an earlier station building from 1846.

The original timber building was opened in 1847 as part of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s design for the line, and was destroyed by fire in 1873.

The South Devon Railway built a new station with the platforms connected by an iron bridge, roofed with glass which opened in 1875.

The running board is of an early cast iron type, probably around 1860, as originally used by South Devon Railway Company.

It is a rare early survivor which had lost its original posts which in the past have been replaced with modern much thinner fabrications which had rusted through.

The station suffered significant damage during the storms in February 2014 which washed out the track bed and made an 80-metre breach in the sea wall north of the station.