Cornish Main Line

Cornish Main Line
The Royal Albert Bridge
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	Cornwall, United Kingdom
Termini	Plymouth Penzance
Service
Type	Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Operator(s)	Great Western Railway CrossCountry (Freight: DB Schenker and Freightliner)
History
Opened	1867
Technical
Line length	79.5 miles (128 km)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Operating speed	75 mph (121 km/h) maximum

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.

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.

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
miles from London via Castle Cary Exeter–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 227¾ Devonport Albert Road Halt (LSWR) Devonport Tunnel 227½ Dockyard Keyham Viaduct Ford (LSWR) Ford Platform 228¾ 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 Central Royal Albert Bridge over River Tamar 230¾ Saltash Coombe by Saltash Viaduct Defiance Platform Original line until 1906 Forder Viaduct Shilingham (Wivelscombe) Tunnel Grove Viaduct Nottar Viaduct St Germans Viaduct 235¾ St Germans Tresulgan Viaduct Coldrennick Viaduct 240¼ Menheniot Treviddo Viaduct Carthuther Viaduct Bolitho Viaduct Liskeard Viaduct Looe Valley Line 243½ Liskeard Coombe Junction Halt Moorswater depot and 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 256¾ Lostwithiel River Fowey Fowey Branch Milltown Viaduct Treverrin Tunnel ( 565 yd 517 m ) 260½ Par Atlantic Coast Line St Blazey engine shed Par Harbour 265¾ 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 292¾ Camborne Penponds Viaduct Penponds Helston Railway Gwinear Road Original Hayle Railway route Angarrack viaduct Angarrack Copperhouse Halt 298¾ 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 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. 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.

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.

Station usage
Station name	2002–03	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11	2011–12	2012–13	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
Plymouth	1,431,674	1,519,011	1,629,011	1,845,958	2,026,851	2,249,849	2,278,718	2,401,082
Dockyard	4,070	5,088	4,895	5,335	4,924	5,274	5,524	5,406
Keyham	8,957	6,374	7,594	7,976	5,055	5,600	5,016	6,330
St Budeaux Ferry Road	987	969	1,015	1,037	1,199	1,132	1,540	2,326
Saltash	27,197	35,349	32,186	34,266	32,062	47,244	49,578	59,240
St Germans	25,681	24,926	28,228	29,540	29,073	37,718	38,258	44,758
Menheniot	6,554	5,782	4,453	4,206	3,610	4,598	3,844	2,690
Liskeard	209,875	232,269	237,113	267,864	274,090	294,638	289,276	309,162
Bodmin Parkway	144,146	158,172	166,743	185,498	203,061	225,140	221,616	235,876
Lostwithiel	40,701	42,602	46,172	46,645	51,695	61,716	68,336	73,584
Par	78,175	95,475	111,912	119,859	139,688	160,832	162,872	179,100
St Austell	266,676	275,056	281,545	314,613	360,484	388,878	395,222	436,440
Truro	638,727	714,954	772,674	856,474	917,184	997,368	1,042,412	1,161,138
Redruth	186,977	219,013	228,511	258,384	277,853	292,940	284,462	308,444
Camborne	109,628	146,595	157,026	181,671	193,948	215,600	224,950	247,360
Hayle	34,802	43,467	51,299	63,593	60,174	73,868	77,172	85,508
St Erth	71,406	90,541	88,341	67,004	68,230	75,026	75,248	120,770
Penzance	392,008	403,000	413,905	461,764	498,290	526,132	520,982	556,546
The annual passenger usage is based on sales of tickets in stated financial years from Office of Rail and Road estimates of station usage. The statistics are for passengers arriving and departing from each station and cover twelve-month periods that start in April. Methodology may vary year on year. Usage from the periods 2019-20 and especially 2020-21 onwards have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic

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

Sources and further reading

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