Cornish Main Line

The Cornish Main Line is a railway line in Cornwall in the United Kingdom. It runs from Penzance to Plymouth, crossing from Cornwall into Devon over the famous Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash.

It directly serves Truro, St Austell, Bodmin (by a Parkway station), and Liskeard, and it forms the backbone for rail services in Cornwall, as well as providing a direct line to London, Birmingham, Leeds and Edinburgh. There are branches off the main line serving St Ives, Falmouth, Newquay, and Looe.

It is the southernmost railway line in the United Kingdom, and the westernmost in England.

History

The Royal Albert Bridge under construction in 1858

The Cornish Main Line was originally built by two separate railway companies, the West Cornwall Railway between Truro and Penzance, opened in 1852, and the Cornwall Railway between Plymouth and a separate station in Truro, opened in 1859. The West Cornwall Railway was itself based on the Hayle Railway, opened in 1837 as a purely local mineral railway.

Rail travel from Penzance to London was possible from 1860 when the West Cornwall company was given access to the Cornwall Railway’s Truro station, but the West Cornwall trains were standard gauge and the Cornwall Railway was broad gauge, so through passengers had to change trains there and goods had to be transhipped into wagons of the other gauge at Truro.

The impecunious West Cornwall company sold its railway to the more powerful broad gauge Associated Companies, dominated by the Great Western Railway, and the new owners converted the West Cornwall line to broad gauge. Through goods trains started running in 1866 and passenger trains in 1867.

The Associated Companies merged into the Great Western Railway, and in 1892 the Great Western converted all its broad gauge track to standard gauge, a process called the gauge conversion.

Both the West Cornwall and the Cornwall railways had been built cheaply and had numerous timber trestle viaducts; these were cheap to build but very expensive to maintain, as the timber decayed, and the iconic viaducts were eventually all reconstructed in masonry or masonry and wrought iron, or in a few cases by-passed. Those on the Cornwall Railway section are described at Cornwall Railway viaducts.

The most iconic structure on the route, however, is the Royal Albert Bridge spanning the River Tamar and opened in 1859; it remains in use to the present day.

During the later decades of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth, the Great Western Railway was famous for providing transport to holiday destinations in Cornwall, and there were numerous branch lines served from the Cornish main line giving access to the resorts. The physical limitations of the steeply graded line imposed severe problems during the busiest times, not least for goods train operation. Equally famous was the line’s use for transporting vegetable produce from Cornwall, famously broccoli and cauliflower, and cut flowers from the Isles of Scilly.

To cope with the increasing traffic the line was gradually doubled between 1893 and 1930.^[2]

Many of the branch lines were closed during the second half of the twentieth century, but in Cornwall the Looe, Newquay, Falmouth and St Ives branches remain in operation, with a basic local passenger traffic in winter considerably boosted by holidaymakers in summer. The historical development of the line is more fully dealt with at Hayle Railway, West Cornwall Railway, and Cornwall Railway. ^[3]

Accidents

The Cornwall Main Line has been a very safe railway for passengers, although a number of railwaymen have been killed and there have been some memorable accidents over the years. These include:

• Grove Viaduct, St Germans – derailment, 6 May 1859.
• St Austell – runaway train, 29 October 1872.
• Menheniot – collision, 2 December 1873.
• Bodmin Road – derailment, 13 April 1895.

Route

Cornish Main Line
Legend
miles from London via Castle Cary Exeter to Plymouth Line to Exeter St Davids 225¾ Plymouth Plymouth Millbay Millbay Docks Pennycomequick Viaduct Cornwall Loop Junction Devonport Junction London & South Western Rly Wingfield Villas Halt Devonport Kings Road(LSWR) Stonehouse Pool Docks 227⅕ Devonport Albert Road Halt(LSWR) Devonport Tunnel 227½ Dockyard Keyham Viaduct Ford(LSWR) Ford Platform 228⅕ Keyham Devonport Dockyard branch Camels Head Halt(LSWR) Weston Mill Viaduct Bullpoint Siding Weston Mill Halt(LSWR) 228¾ St Budeaux Ferry Road St Budeaux Victoria Road Tamar Valley Line & LSWR to Exeter Royal Albert Bridge over River Tamar 230⅕ Saltash Coombe by Saltash Viaduct Defiance Platform Original line until 1906 Forder Viaduct Shilingham (Wivelscombe) Tunnel Grove Viaduct Nottar Viaduct St Germans Viaduct 235⅕ St Germans Tresulgan Viadcut Coldrennick Viaduct 240¼ Menheniot Treviddo Viaduct Carthuther Viaduct Bolitho Viaduct Liskeard Viaduct Looe Valley Line 243½ Liskeard Coombe Junction Halt Moorswater depotand Viaduct Sperritt Tunnel Westwood Viaduct St Pinnock Viaduct Largin Viaduct West Largin Viaduct Derrycombe Viaduct Clinnick Viaduct Penadlake Viaduct Glyn Valley Siding 252¾ Bodmin Parkway Bodmin and Wenford Railway Carriage shed and sidings Brownqueen Tunnel 256⅕ Lostwithiel River Fowey Fowey Branch Milltown Viaduct Treverrin Tunnel (565 yards) 260½ Par Atlantic Coast Line St Blazey engine shed Par Harbour 265⅕ St Austell St Austell Viaduct Lansalson branch line Trenance Siding Gover Viaduct Burngullow Drinnick Mill Branch Burngullow Coombe St Stephen Viaduct Fal Viaduct Grampound Road Probus and Ladock Tregagle Viaduct Polperro Tunnel Buckshead Tunnel Truro Viaduct Carvedras Viaduct Truro (Newham) 279½ Truro Higher Town Tunnel Maritime Line Chacewater Viaduct Chacewater Truro and Newquay Railway Scorrier Drump Lane Redruth Tunnel 288½ Redruth Redruth Viaduct Redruth & Tresavean branches Portreath branch Carn Brea Dolcoath Halt Roskear Branch Roskear Junction 292⅕ Camborne Penponds Viaduct Penponds Helston Railway Gwinear Road Original Hayle Railway route Angarrack viaduct Angarrack Copperhouse Halt 298⅕ Hayle Hayle Wharves Hayle Viaduct St Ives Bay Line 299½ St Erth Marazion Penzance TMD 305¼ Penzance

A train from London Paddington to Penzance crosses Moorswater Viaduct

The communities served are: Plymouth (including the suburbs of Devonport and St Budeaux); Saltash; St Germans; Menheniot; Liskeard; Bodmin; Lostwithiel; Par; St Austell; Truro; Redruth; Camborne; Hayle; St Erth; Penzance. In addition branch lines link Plymouth with Bere Alston, Calstock, and Gunnislake; Liskeard with Looe; Par with Newquay; Truro with Penryn and Falmouth; and St Erth with St Ives.

The railway stations at St Austell and Penzance are adjacent to bus stations. In addition, integrated bus services operate from Bodmin Parkway to Bodmin, Wadebridge, and Padstow; from St Austell to The Eden Project; and from Redruth to Helston and RNAS Culdrose.

The route has a large number of viaducts, but the most significant structure is the Royal Albert Bridge^[4] which crosses the River Tamar at Saltash. At Truro the viaducts give sweeping views of the city and River Fal, while further west the north coast can be seen near Hayle before the line swings onto the south coast for the last mile or so along the beach at Marazion, giving a good view of St Michael's Mount.

Nominal line speed is 65 mph (105 km/h) but there are local restrictions at many places. The route is mostly double-tracked and cleared for trains up to W7 and W6A gauges.^[5] The 7.5-mile (12.1 km) section of single track from Burngullow to Probus (between the stations at St Austell and Truro) used to be a major cause of delays in the region, requiring trains to wait for preceding trains to clear the singled section before proceeding. The second track was restored in August 2004. The total cost of the project was £14.3 million and was funded by Objective One, Strategic Rail Authority and Cornwall County Council.

Usage

The number of passengers travelling on the Cornish Main Line has increased in the last few years up to 2006-2007, with the exception of Keyham, Menheniot and St Erth. These three stations saw usage drop, with the biggest drop being at St Erth. During the period 2007-2008, most stations saw a general increase in usage except for most of the Plymouth stations, Saltash and Hayle. Truro in particular had nearly a million people.^[6]

By the year beginning April 2010, all stations except Dockyard and Menheniot have shown an increase on the previous year. The notable jump at St Erth was due to switching from Ranger tickets to point-to-point based tickets.^[6]

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

See also

• Cornwall Railway
• Cornwall Railway viaducts
• Disused railway stations (Plymouth to Penzance Line)
• Great Western Main Line
• West Cornwall Railway

References

Notes

Sources and further reading

• Bennett, Alan (1990). The Great Western Railway in East Cornwall. Cheltenham: Runpast Publishing. ISBN 1-870754-11-5. 
• Bennett, Alan (1988). The Great Western Railway in Mid Cornwall. Southampton: Kingfisher Railway Publications. ISBN 0-946184-53-4. 
• Bennett, Alan (1988). The Great Western Railway in West Cornwall. Cheltenham: Runpast Publishing. ISBN 1-870754-12-3. 
• Binding, John (1993). Brunel's Cornish Viaducts. Penryn: Atlantic Transport Publishing for Historical Model Railway Society. ISBN 0-906899-56-7. 
• Central Publicity Unit (Winter 1979). Railway Electrification. British Railways Board. pp. 0–2, 8. 
• Hesp, Martin (2008-07-07). "My magnificent rail journey". Western Morning News. Retrieved 2008-07-14. 

Railway lines in the South West
Primary	Cross Country Route Exeter Bristol Cheltenham Great Western Main Line Exeter Bristol Keynsham Bath Spa Chippenham Swindon (fast services calling points only)
Secondary	To London South Western Main Line (from Weymouth) Reading to Taunton Line (from Taunton) West of England Main Line (from Exeter) Others Atlantic Coast Line Avocet Line Bristol to Taunton Line Cornish Main Line Cotswold Line Gloucester to Newport Line Golden Valley Line Heart of Wessex Line Henbury Loop Looe Valley Line Lostwithiel to Fowey Maritime Line Portishead Branch Riviera Line Severn Beach Line St Ives Bay Line Tamar Valley Line Tarka Line Wessex Main Line
Heritage	Avon Valley Railway Bristol Harbour Railway Bodmin and Wenford Railway East Somerset Railway Dartmoor Railway Dartmouth Steam Railway Dean Forest Railway Helston Railway Plym Valley Railway South Devon Railway Swanage Railway Swindon & Cricklade Railway West Somerset Railway