That's Coastguard Footbridge here , with " Rockstone Footbridge " just visible in the distance ahead of the plume of steam .
Langstone Rock , such a splendid vantage point for railway photographers over the ages , is in the far distance to the right of the signal post where the line takes a left hand curve inland towards Dawlish Warren. This is the eastern side of Dawlish station , with a " Castle " on the down "Torbay Express " running down from Paddington to Kingswear , the terminus of the line through Torbay.
The Reporting Number indicates this to be a late ' fifties picture , the previous " 146 " Reporting Number used for the down " Torbay " over many years having now been changed , but those in authority at Paddington seemed to change the numbers so frequently in the later years of steam workings that it was difficult to keep up with them , and we now have a " 3 " as the lead number for some strange reason.!
This is the location where so much damage was caused by the storms just over two years ago , with those houses in the background being cut off when the sea wall seen here in front of them was washed away and the whole trackbed collapsed into the sea.