Cornwall Railway facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Cornwall Railway |
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|---|---|
The Royal Albert Bridge
that carries the route of the Cornwall Railway across the River Tamar |
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| History | |
| 1835 | Proposal for a railway from London to Falmouth |
| 1839 | Proposal for the Cornwall Railway |
| 1846 | Cornwall Railway Act |
| 1848–52 | Construction suspended |
| 1859 | Opened from Plymouth to Truro |
| 1863 | Opened Truro to Falmouth |
| 1867 | Branch opened to Keyham Dockyard |
| 1876 | Cornwall Loop line opened in Plymouth |
| 1889 | Line sold to the Great Western Railway |
| Engineering | |
| Engineer | Isambard Kingdom Brunel |
| Gauge | 7 ft 1⁄4 in (2,140 mm) converted to 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge in 1892 |
| Successor organisation | |
| 1889 | Great Western Railway |
| 1948 | British Railways |
| Key locations | |
| Headquarters | Truro, Cornwall |
| Workshops | Lostwithiel |
| Major stations | St Austell Truro Falmouth |
| Key structures | Royal Albert Bridge and numerous timber trestle viaducts |
| Route mileage | |
| 1859 | 53.50 miles (86.10 km) |
| 1863 | 65.34 miles (105.15 km) |
The Cornwall Railway was a special railway line built in the 1800s. It ran from Plymouth in Devon to Falmouth in Cornwall, England. This railway was famous for its unique wide tracks, called broad gauge, and for building the amazing Royal Albert Bridge over the River Tamar.
Building the railway was very hard because of the hilly land. The company also often struggled to find enough money. This meant they had to build many viaducts (long bridges) out of wood, which were cheaper. These wooden bridges looked cool but cost a lot to keep in good repair. Eventually, the Cornwall Railway had to sell its line to a bigger company, the Great Western Railway.
Even today, parts of this original route are still used. They form a key part of the Cornish Main Line, carrying people on holidays and goods like vegetables and flowers.
Contents
Building the Cornwall Railway
The idea for the Cornwall Railway came about because people in Falmouth were worried. Falmouth was an important port, but another port, Southampton, was getting more popular. Southampton had a new railway that could get mail and goods to London much faster. Falmouth needed its own railway link to keep up!
Brunel's clever designs
The land in Cornwall was very difficult to build a railway on. There were many deep valleys running north to south. Because money was tight, the famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel designed wooden viaducts. These were much cheaper to build than stone ones. However, they needed a lot of maintenance and were later rebuilt with stronger materials like stone or brick.
The railway also started with only a single track to save money. Even after it opened, the company struggled financially. They slowly upgraded some viaducts and added a second track in places. But the biggest challenge was changing the track width from broad gauge to the standard size used by most other railways. This was a huge and costly job.
The railway became very important for transporting farm products like flowers and vegetables to markets. It also helped Cornwall become a popular holiday spot, known as "the Cornish Riviera." Many smaller branch lines were later built to connect to coastal towns.
The railway in the 1900s
In the 20th century, the Great Western Railway helped the line grow. They ran fast trains for goods and promoted Cornwall as a holiday destination. But the original line had many sharp curves and steep hills. This made it hard for trains to go fast, especially when there were many trains in the summer. Even with improvements, the difficult landscape made big changes very expensive.
From the 1960s, more people started flying abroad for holidays. This meant fewer people took the train to Cornwall. However, trains still run from London to Cornwall today, and the original Cornwall Railway route is still a vital part of the rail network.
Early plans and challenges
In the 1830s, Falmouth was the biggest town in Cornwall. It was a key port for mail ships. But Southampton's new railway connection to London made it a strong competitor. Business people in Falmouth knew they needed a railway to London quickly.
Early ideas for the railway involved a route through the middle of the country, aiming for the shortest path to London. This was mainly to keep the important mail traffic. However, these plans failed because there wasn't enough money.
Later, a committee was formed to create the Cornwall Railway. An engineer named Captain William Moorsom drew up detailed plans.
Problems with Moorsom's ideas
In 1842, the government decided to move most of the mail ship traffic to Southampton. This was a big blow to the Cornwall Railway's plans. It meant they would lose a lot of their expected income.
The railway now needed to connect to Plymouth, where the South Devon Railway was planning to build a line. This would help the Cornwall Railway get more local passengers and goods.
Captain Moorsom's plans for the railway were very unusual. He suggested using a ferry to cross the River Tamar at Torpoint. Trains would have to be split up, rolled onto the ferry, crossed the river, and then put back together on the other side! This would cause huge delays. Experts said it would be very difficult and unsafe.
He also planned a bridge over Penryn Creek that would block ships. These problems meant his plans were rejected by Parliament.
The "Atmospheric System" idea
Moorsom also wanted to use a new type of train called the "atmospheric system." Instead of a steam engine, a tube between the rails would suck air out, pulling the train along. This seemed like a good idea for steep hills. It was being tried on other railways, but it turned out to have many problems and was never used on the Cornwall Railway.
Brunel's successful design
After Moorsom's plans failed, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was asked to design a new route in 1846. Brunel was a brilliant engineer. He planned a route that would cross the River Tamar with a fixed bridge, avoiding the ferry idea. This bridge would become the famous Royal Albert Bridge.
Brunel also improved the curves and gradients of the line, making it much safer and more practical. He changed the route near Truro and Falmouth to avoid difficult river crossings. The idea of the atmospheric system was dropped.
Parliament approved Brunel's plan in August 1846. The railway would be about 63 miles (101 km) long. It was allowed to raise money and connect with other railways. It would also use the same wide track gauge as the Great Western Railway.
Work begins (slowly!)
Building started slowly because of a financial crisis. Many people had invested too much money in railways, and then they couldn't pay for their shares. This made it hard for the Cornwall Railway to get the money it needed.
In 1851, Brunel suggested building the line as a single track to save money. Even then, many investors couldn't pay. So, in 1855, the Cornwall Railway made a deal with the Great Western Railway and other companies. These companies agreed to help with money, which finally allowed construction to speed up.
Work on the Royal Albert Bridge began in 1854. It was a massive project, costing £225,000 (a huge amount back then!). The bridge is about 730 yards (668 meters) long, with two huge main spans. It was finished in 1859.
The railway opens!
On May 2, 1859, Prince Albert himself opened the new bridge, giving it the name Royal Albert Bridge. The line from Plymouth to Truro opened for passengers on May 4, 1859. Goods trains started running later that year.
At first, trains were slow because there wasn't much rolling stock (train cars). But soon, the railway started carrying lots of fish, potatoes, and broccoli from West Cornwall. These goods had to be moved from one train to another at Truro because the West Cornwall Railway had a different, narrower track gauge.
Reaching Falmouth and new ownership
The company still wanted to extend the line to Falmouth, its original goal. But they still needed more money. So, in 1861, they leased the line to the Great Western Railway and its partners for 1,000 years! This meant the bigger companies would manage the Cornwall Railway.
The Falmouth extension finally opened in August 1863. Later, the West Cornwall Railway also came under the control of the Great Western Railway. This meant the wider broad gauge tracks could be installed all the way to Penzance, making train travel much smoother. The Falmouth line then became a branch line, as the main focus was now on connecting Penzance to London.
In 1876, the Great Western Railway became the main company leasing the Cornwall line.
Challenges and changes
Even though the railway was making more money, the wooden viaducts were very expensive to maintain. They cost about £10,000 a year! The company started replacing some of them with stronger stone or brick structures. These new viaducts were built wide enough for two standard gauge tracks, even though the line was still broad gauge and mostly single track.
By 1888, the Cornwall Railway Company was struggling too much. Its shareholders agreed to sell their shares, and the company officially became part of the Great Western Railway on July 1, 1889.
The Great Western Railway takes over
After the Great Western Railway took full control, big changes happened. The most important was converting the entire line from broad gauge to standard gauge. This huge task was completed over one weekend, and the line reopened with standard gauge trains on May 23, 1892.
The line was mostly single track, but the Great Western Railway started adding second tracks in many places. By 1904, only the Royal Albert Bridge and a short section near St Germans remained single track. The Falmouth branch, however, stayed single track.
The replacement of the old wooden viaducts continued. Between 1896 and 1904, all the remaining wooden viaducts on the main line were replaced. The viaducts on the Falmouth branch were replaced later, by 1927.
What remains today
Many parts of the original Cornwall Railway are still around:
- The Royal Albert Bridge is still used by trains every day!
- You can still see the stone bases of many of Brunel's original wooden viaducts. The new viaducts were often built right next to them.
- The stations at Liskeard and St Germans are original Cornwall Railway buildings and are still in use.
- The stations at Par and Saltash were also built by the Cornwall Railway, though they were rebuilt later.
- The footbridge at St Austell is a rare old Great Western Railway footbridge with a roof.
- On the Falmouth branch, there's an original goods shed at Perranwell and some old workers' cottages at Falmouth.
Branch lines
The Cornwall Railway itself only built one short branch line to the naval dockyards at Keyham in 1867.
However, other independent railway companies built lines that connected to the Cornwall Railway:
- The West Cornwall Railway connected to Penzance in 1859.
- The Lostwithiel and Fowey Railway opened in 1869.
- The Newquay and Cornwall Junction Railway also opened in 1869.
In 1876, the Cornwall Loop line opened in Plymouth. This allowed trains to go directly onto the main line without having to reverse at the station. It's now the main route for trains.
Stations on the line
Here are some of the main stations that were part of the Cornwall Railway:
- At Plymouth, Cornwall Railway trains used the Millbay station (closed in 1941).
- Devonport
- Saltash
- St Germans
- Menheniot
- Liskeard
- Doublebois (open 1860–1964)
- Bodmin Road (now Bodmin Parkway)
- Lostwithiel
- Par
- St Austell
- Burngullow (open 1863–1931)
- Grampound Road (closed in 1964)
- Truro
- Perranwell (opened 1863)
- Penryn (opened 1863)
- Falmouth (opened 1863, reopened 1975)
Trains and carriages
The Cornwall Railway didn't own its first locomotives (engines). Instead, they had a contract with other companies to provide them. Later, the South Devon Railway took over this contract.
Some of the locomotives used on the Cornwall Railway included:
- Eagle class passenger locomotives (like Castor, Eagle, Lynx)
- Dido class goods locomotives (like Argo, Atlas, Hero)
- Buffalo class goods locomotives (like Dragon, Emperor)
The Cornwall Railway did buy its own carriages and wagons. They had workshops in Lostwithiel to maintain them. When the line first opened, they had 8 first-class, 18 second-class, and 16 third-class carriages. They also had many wagons for carrying minerals, cattle, and other goods. By 1889, they had a fleet of 421 wagons!
Images for kids
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The Torpoint Ferry in 1894. An early, rejected plan for the railway involved trains using this ferry!
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View down Milne Place towards the ferry. The original plan would have had trains descending a very steep hill here.
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Map of Plymouth and Devonport about 1854. Moorsom's planned route to the "Steam Ferry" is shown as "New Passage Branch" (it was never built).
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Falmouth Harbour showing different route designs considered for the railway.
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A boundary stone from the Cornwall Railway near Penryn. These stones marked the railway's land.
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St Germans station, which opened in 1859 and is still standing today.
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A map showing the St Germans deviation line, built in 1908 to improve the route.
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Saltash station, which was rebuilt in the 1880s.
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The Argo, a Dido Class 0-6-0ST goods locomotive, used on the Cornwall Railway.
See also
- Cornish Main Line
- Disused railway stations (Plymouth to Penzance Line)
- Maritime Line
- Trestle bridge
