Tamar Valley Line

Tamar Valley Line
Calstock viaduct
Overview
Type	Community railway
Locale	Cornwall and Devon
Termini	Plymouth Gunnislake
Operation
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	First Great Western
Technical
Line length	14 miles (23 km)
No. of tracks	Single track throughout
Operating speed	55 mph (89 km/h)

The Tamar Valley Line is a railway line from Devonport in Plymouth Devon, to Gunnislake in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The line follows the River Tamar for much of its route.

History

The line from St Budeaux to Bere Alston was opened for passenger traffic on 2 June 1890 by the Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway (PDSWJ) as part of their line from Lydford to Devonport, which in effect was an extension of the London and South Western Railway's main line from London Waterloo station to Lydford, enabling the LSWR to reach Plymouth independently of the Great Western Railway.

The branch to Gunnislake was opened by the PDSWJ on 2 March 1908.

Motive power

The line used former LSWR O2 Class tank engines as the main form of motive power for many years but in the 1950s newer LMS Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2T engines took over. By 1964 steam had been ousted from the line and DMUs had taken over, working as two-car sets.

Today services are operated by First Great Western using Class 150 or Class 153 diesel multiple units.

Route

Tamar Valley Line

Legend miles from Plymouth Main Line to London 0.00 Plymouth Plymouth (Millbay) Millbay Docks Pennycomequick Viaduct Cornwall Loop Junction Devonport Junction Wingfield Villas Halt Former LSWR route Devonport (Kings Road) Stonehouse Pool Docks 1.25 Devonport Albert Road Halt Devonport Tunnel 1.50 Dockyard Keyham Viaduct Ford Ford Platform 2.25 Keyham Devonport Dockyard branch Camels Head Halt Weston Mill Viaduct Bullpoint Siding Weston Mill Halt St Budeaux Ferry Road 3.25 St Budeaux Victoria Road Royal Albert Bridge (River Tamar) To Penzance (Cornish Main Line) Ernesettle (private siding) Tamerton Foliot Tavy Bridge (River Tavy) 7.50 Bere Ferrers 9.50 Bere Alston To Exeter via ex-LSWR route Calstock Viaduct (River Tamar) Calstock Quay 11.25 Calstock 14.00 Gunnislake Chilsworthy Luckett Callington

Passing under the Royal Albert and Tamar bridges at St Budeaux

Communities served: Plymouth (including the suburbs of Devonport and St Budeaux) – Bere Ferrers – Bere Alston – Calstock – Gunnislake

The section between Calstock and Bere Ferrers is on the Bere peninsula, between the river Tamar (crossed by the Calstock Viaduct), and the river Tavy (crossed by the Tavy Bridge). The most southerly road bridge (the A390) on the peninsula is at Gunnislake, crossing the river Tamar. This means the railway is the quickest way of getting into the city of Plymouth to the south. The line was suggested for closure in the 1960s following the Reshaping of British Railways Report, however the remaining section of line was saved due to these poor road links.

Passenger volume

The number of passengers travelling on the Tamar Valley line has been declining in recent years, although numbers travelling to or from the two Cornish stations is increasing.

	2002-03	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Devonport	18,795	16,202	18,573	19,655	17,450	21,652
Dockyard	4,070	5,088	4,895	5,335	4,924	5,280
Keyham	8,957	6,374	7,594	7,976	5,050	5,648
St Budeaux V. Rd	5,451	5,818	6,146	5,264	5,193	5,678
Bere Ferrers	17,808	12,862	11,459	10,824	10,824	11,580
Bere Alston	37,944	29,552	27,263	26,866	28,936	32,454
Calstock	25,739	24,024	21,123	23,476	26,825	31,168
Gunnislake	39,009	37,190	43,885	43,676	48,747	49,070

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Community rail

The Tamar Valley Line is one of the railway lines supported by the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership, an organisation formed in 1991 to promote railway services in the area. The line is promoted by many means such as regular timetable and scenic line guides, as well as leaflets highlighting leisure opportunities such as walking or visiting country pubs.

The Tamar Valley rail ale trail was launched in 2004 to encourage rail travellers to visit pubs near the line. Five are in Plymouth city centre and a further three in the suburbs of Devonport and St Budeaux. There are single pubs to visit at Bere Ferrers and Bere Alston, two in Calstock and six in Gunnislake. 6, 10 or 18 stamps collected in the Rail Ale Trail leaflet entitle the participant to claim special Tamar Valley Line Rail Trail souvenir merchandise.

Wessex Trains covered Class 150 2-car DMU number 150240 in coloured pictures promoting the line and named The Tamar Kingfisher. It is now in service with Arriva Trains Wales and works throughout its network.

The line was designated as a community rail line in September 2005, being one of seven pilots for the Department for Transport's Community Rail Development Strategy. This aims to establish the true costs and revenues for the line with an aim of improving them. It is also looking at simplifiying the reversal of trains, considering the costs and benefits should the line be "microfranchised" separately from the Great Western Franchise, and the potential for extending the line from Bere Alston to Tavistock.

On 18 March 2008 Devon County Council backed a proposal by developers Kilbride Community Rail to construct 750 houses in Tavistock that includes reopening the 5.5 miles (9 km) line from Bere Alston to a new Tavistock railway station at a cost of £18.5million.

External links

• Great Scenic Railways in Devon and Cornwall.
• Calstock Online Parish Clerk - Railway pages