Newquay Railway Station
Newquay railway station is the terminus of the Atlantic Coast Line that runs from Par railway station.
The first railway at Newquay was a horse-worked line from the harbour to Hendra Crazey. It was built by Joseph Thomas Treffry in stages between 1846 and 1849.
The line was extended on 1 June 1874 by the Cornwall Minerals Railway, goods trains now reaching Fowey. A branch line from Tolcarn Junction, just outside Newquay, ran to Gravel Hill Mine near Treamble where there was an iron mine.
Passenger trains were introduced on 20 June 1876. The Great Western Railway operated all the trains from 1 October 1877 and bought out the Cornwall Minerals Railway on 1 July 1896.
The original station had just a single platform and a turntable at the end of the platform was used to release locomotives from incoming trains.
The station was rebuilt in 1905 with two platforms serving three tracks. A new line was opened from Shepherds, on the Treamble branch, to Perranporth on 2 January 1905, which allowed a new service to run from Newquay to Truro. The following year through carriages started to be run from London using the direct line from Par.
The main departure platform was lengthened in 1928 and again in 1935; the second platform was lengthened in 1938. These enlargements were to accommodate the longer trains that were now bringing holidaymakers from London and elsewhere. Extensive carriage sidings were laid on the south side of the station to store these trains between services.
The station started to be run down following the closure of the line to Truro on 4 February 1963.
The goods yard was closed in 1965; the roof on platforms 2 and 3 was removed in 1964. Platform 3 was shortened in 1966
The locomotive release line taken out of use on 4 October 1972, by which time four of the carriage sidings had been removed.
On 5 October 1987 the signal box was closed, all the remaining signals were felled and the loop line that formed platform 1 was lifted. At the same time all the carriage sidings were closed and lifted.
The former Chacewater platform kept its rails a little longer although these too were removed by the mid 1990s. The station buildings on platform 1 were razed in 1992 to make way for a new car park whilst the signal box structure was torched by vandals and burnt to the ground in March 1997.
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] Wikipedia