Fowey railway station (Cornish : Fowydh) was a station in Fowey, Cornwall from 1874 until 1965. The rail connection to the docks at Carne Point remains open for china clay traffic.
Fowey railway station (Cornish : Fowydh) was a station in Fowey, Cornwall from 1874 until 1965. The rail connection to the docks at Carne Point remains open for china clay traffic.
The Lostwithiel and Fowey Railway (L&FR) had opened as far as Carne Point in 1869 but was never completed to the intended terminus at Fowey. [1] The Cornwall Minerals Railway (CMR) arrived from the opposite direction in 1874. A passenger service from Fowey to Newquay via St Blazey started on 1 June 1874. [2]
The station had two platforms with loading docks and a goods shed at the St Blazey end. [3] It was situated at Caffa Mill Pill on the north side of the town by the River Fowey. Goods trains from St Blazey passed through the station to the jetties where ships could be loaded directly from the wagons.
The L&FR ceased operations at the end of 1879 but on 16 September 1895 a connection was made from the CMR's line to the Lostwithiel line which was refurbished. A passenger service introduced between Fowey and Lostwithiel. An intermediate station was opened at Golant on 1 July 1896, on the same day that the Cornwall Minerals Railway was amalgamated into the Great Western Railway. [4]
The advertised passenger service to Newquay was withdrawn on 8 July 1929, although unadvertised workmen's trains continued to run to St Blazey until 29 December 1934. The station was host to a GWR camp coach from 1934 to 1939. [5] [6] A camping coach was also positioned here by the Western Region from 1952 to 1962, the coach was replaced in 1963 by two Pullman camping coaches which were in turn replaced by two larger coaches for a final season in 1964. [7]
The Great Western Railway was nationalised into British Railways on 1 January 1948. [8]
| Preceding station | Historical railways | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terminus | Great Western Railway Fowey to Newquay | St Blazey | ||
| Golant | Great Western Railway Lostwithiel to Fowey | Terminus | ||
The L&FR built a jetty at Carne Point in 1869 and the CMR built three between Carne Point and their passenger station. [1] A fourth jetty was added before 1919 when double-shift working was introduced to relieve a backlog of export orders and 200 additional railway wagons brought into service. A fifth jetty was completed in 1921 at a cost of £200,000. [9] By 1923 there were eight jetties, numbered 1 to 8 from the station to Carne Point. [1]
By the time that English China Clays took over the facilities in 1968 only five jetties remained in use. The main jetty is number 8, while numbers 4 and 6 could load china clay from rail wagons using conveyors. Number 5 only handled bagged china clay from road vehicles and number 3 handled liquid china clay slurry. [1] Only number 8 is now used for rail traffic. It was modernised in 1988 to allow it to handle the new CDA 32 tonne hopper wagons. [10]
The passenger service to Lostwithiel was withdrawn on 4 January 1965 and the remaining goods traffic from Par ceased on 1 July 1968. The railway was then converted into a private road to bring china clay from Par harbour. [11] Reopening of the Lostwithiel line to passenger services was suggested in 2014. [12]
The station has been demolished and the site is now a car park, although the original station house remains in the dock area. [1]
Fowey is a port town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town has been in existence since well before the Norman invasion, with the local church first established some time in the 7th century; the estuary of the River Fowey forms a natural harbour which enabled the town to become an important trading centre. Privateers also made use of the sheltered harbourage. The Lostwithiel and Fowey Railway brought China clay here for export.
The Atlantic Coast Line is a 20+3⁄4-mile (33 km) Network Rail branch line which includes a community railway service in Cornwall, England. The line runs from the English Channel at Par, to the Atlantic Ocean at Newquay.
Par is a village and fishing port with a harbour on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is situated in the civil parish of Tywardreath and Par, although West Par and the docks lie in the parish of St Blaise.
Lostwithiel railway station serves the town of Lostwithiel in Cornwall, England. It is 277 miles 36 chains from the zero point at ‹See TfM›London Paddington measured via Box and Plymouth Millbay. Great Western Railway operates the station along with every other station in Cornwall.
Par railway station serves the villages of Par, Tywardreath and St Blazey, Cornwall, England. The station is 281 miles 66 chains down the line from ‹See TfM›London Paddington, measured via Box and Plymouth Millbay. It is the junction for the Atlantic Coast Line to Newquay.
The Lostwithiel and Fowey Railway opened in 1869 as a broad gauge railway linking the port of Fowey in Cornwall with the Cornish Main Line at Lostwithiel. Its main traffic was china clay. The company ran into financial difficulties and closed in 1880, but the line was purchased by the Cornwall Minerals Railway and reopened in 1895.
The Newquay and Cornwall Junction Railway was a 7 ft broad gauge railway intended to link the Cornwall Railway with the horse-worked Newquay Railway. It opened a short section to Nanpean in 1869, the remainder being built by the Cornwall Minerals Railway who took over the company in 1874. Its main traffic has always been china clay.
Perranwell station is on the Maritime Line between Truro and Falmouth Docks in Cornwall, England. The station is managed by, and the services are operated by, Great Western Railway.
Falmouth Docks railway station is situated in Falmouth, Cornwall, England. It was opened in 1863 as the terminus of the Maritime Line from Truro, although since 1970 Falmouth Town has been the principal station for the town. Services are operated by Great Western Railway, who also manage the station.
St Blazey engine shed is located in Par, Cornwall, United Kingdom, although it is named after the adjacent village of St Blazey. It was built in 1874 as the headquarters of the Cornwall Minerals Railway but for many years was a depot of the Great Western Railway. The current depot operator is DB Cargo and the depot TOPS code is BZ.
A passenger station was opened at Par on 20 June 1876 when the Cornwall Minerals Railway started a passenger service from Fowey to Newquay. It was adjacent to the railway's workshops. Although the station was built to serve Par, the entrance was on the west side of the town and close to the adjacent town of St Blazey.
Newquay railway station serves the town and seaside resort of Newquay in Cornwall, England. It is the terminus of the Atlantic Coast Line from Par, 302 miles 49 chains from the zero point at ‹See TfM›London Paddington measured via Box and Plymouth Millbay. The station is situated in the heart of Newquay, close to the town centre itself and the beaches. The station is managed by Great Western Railway which operates local branch line services to and from Par. In the summer, there are also services to and from London.
The Cornish Main Line is a railway line in Cornwall and Devon in the United Kingdom. It runs from Penzance to Plymouth, crossing from Cornwall into Devon over the Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash.
The Cornwall Minerals Railway owned and operated a network of 45 miles (72 km) of standard gauge railway lines in central Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It started by taking over an obsolescent horse-operated tramway in 1862, and it improved and extended it, connecting Newquay and Par Harbours, and Fowey. Having expended considerable capital, it was hurt by a collapse in mineral extraction due to a slump in prices. Despite its title, it operated a passenger service between Newquay and Fowey.
The Treffry Tramways were a group of mineral tramways in Cornwall in the United Kingdom, constructed by Joseph Treffry (1782–1850), a local land owner and entrepreneur. They were constructed to give transport facilities to several mines and pits producing non-ferrous metal, granite and china clay in the area between the Luxulyan Valley and Newquay, and were horse-operated, with the use of water and steam power on inclines, and at first operated in conjunction with the Par Canal and Par Docks, also constructed by Treffry. One of the routes crossed the Luxulyan Valley on a large viaduct, the largest in Cornwall when it was built.
Moorswater railway station was the centre of operations for the Liskeard and Caradon Railway and the Liskeard and Looe Railway. The two railways made an end on junction here. It was the site of the lines' engine shed, also a china clay works which is now used as a cement terminal.
The Truro and Newquay Railway was a Great Western Railway line in Cornwall, England, designed to keep the rival London and South Western Railway (LSWR) out of the west of the county. The line was completed in 1905 and closed in 1963.
The evolution of transport in Cornwall has been shaped by the county's strong maritime, mining and industrial traditions and much of the transport infrastructure reflects this heritage.
Presented below is an alphabetical index of articles related to Cornwall:
The CDA wagon was a type of hopper railway wagon used by British Rail, and then the privatised railway, to move china clay (kaolin) in South West England. The CDA was based on the same design as the HAA wagons which were used to transport coal, with the prototype CDA being a conversion of the HAA type. The wagons were used for 35 years being introduced in 1988, and withdrawn from use in 2023. Twelve examples of the type have been preserved.
