Tamar Valley Line

Tamar Valley Line
Calstock viaduct
Overview
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	Cornwall and Devon
Termini	Plymouth Gunnislake
Service
Type	Community railway
Operator(s)	Great Western Railway
Technical
Line length	14 miles (23 km)
Number of tracks	Single track throughout
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Operating speed	55 mph (89 km/h)

The Tamar Valley Line is a railway line from Plymouth, Devon, to Gunnislake, Cornwall, in England, also known as the Gunnislake branch line. The line follows the River Tamar for much of its route. Like all railway lines in Devon and Cornwall, it is unelectrified and all trains are diesel powered. The entire line is single track past St. Budeaux Junction.

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.

The line was listed for closure in the Reshaping of British Railways Report but was kept open (apart from the section between Gunnislake and Callington – closed in November 1966) because the roads in the areas served were poor.

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 Great Western Railway using Class 150 or Class 153 diesel multiple units.

Route

Tamar Valley Line
miles from Plymouth Exeter to Plymouth line 0¼ Plymouth Plymouth (Millbay) Millbay docks Pennycomequick viaduct Cornwall Loop junction Devonport junction Wingfield Villas Halt former LSWR route Devonport (Kings Road) Stonehouse Pool docks 1¼ Devonport Albert Road Halt Devonport tunnel 1½ Dockyard Keyham viaduct Ford (LSWR) Ford Platform 2¼ Keyham Devonport dockyard Camels Head Halt Weston Mill viaduct Bullpoint siding Weston Mill Halt St Budeaux Ferry Road 3¼ St Budeaux Victoria Road Royal Albert Bridge over River Tamar Cornish Main Line to Penzance Ernesettle siding Tamerton Foliot Tavy Bridge over River Tavy 7½ Bere Ferrers 9½ Bere Alston Tavistock North former LSWR route to Exeter   Calstock viaduct over River Tamar Calstock Sidings Danescombe Quay 11¼ Calstock Butts Meadow 14¼ Gunnislake to 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

Trains heading towards Gunnislake must collect the branch train staff from a secure cabinet on the platform at St Budeaux Victoria Road before proceeding as the line is operated on the one train working system with only a single unit allowed on the branch at a time. Conversely the staff has to be returned to the cabinet by the driver on the return journey before the unit can leave the branch and return to Plymouth. This operation was shown in an episode of the Channel 5 documentary series "The Railway - First Great Western" in October 2013.

There is a small railway museum adjacent to Bere Ferrers railway station which includes a number of converted rail coaches available for holiday let. The station sign on the signal box uses the older spelling of 'Beer Ferrers'.

The section between Bere Ferrers and Calstock Viaduct is on the Bere peninsula, between river Tavy (crossed by the Tavy Bridge) and the river Tamar. The driver changes ends of the train at the old junction station of Bere Alston.

The most southerly road bridge across the Tamar is the A390 road at Gunnislake which means the railway is the quickest way of getting into the city of Plymouth to the south.

Passenger volume

The overall number of passengers travelling on the Tamar Valley line declined in recent years, although numbers travelling to or from the two Cornish stations increased. More recently, passenger numbers have risen overall (from 157,743 in 2002–03 to 195,344 in 2011–12) but the traffic levels from Calstock (in particular) and Gunnislake have stabilised.

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
Devonport	18,795	16,202	18,573	19,655	17,450	21,652	21,674	27,006	27,756	29,878	31,866	33,368	39,742	41,404
Dockyard	4,070	5,088	4,895	5,335	4,924	5,280	5,524	5,406	7,716	7,400	6,970	6,300	4,160	4,727
Keyham	8,957	6,374	7,594	7,976	5,050	5,648	5,016	6,330	7,708	6,540	7,100	6,936	7,338	9,122
St Budeaux Victoria Road	5,451	5,818	6,146	5,264	5,193	5,678	7,026	6,942	7,780	7,918	8,606	10,332	10,376	8,034
Bere Ferrers	17,808	12,862	11,459	10,824	10,824	11,580	12,606	14,374	15,020	15,724	17,472	16,858	16,982	16,000
Bere Alston	37,944	29,552	27,263	26,866	28,936	32,454	36,272	41,666	44,792	42,128	38,762	37,082	39,570	40,978
Calstock	25,739	24,024	21,123	23,476	26,825	31,168	33,368	33,198	32,456	30,346	35,190	33,704	33,794	35,346
Gunnislake	39,009	37,190	43,885	43,676	48,747	49,070	51,424	50,218	52,116	52,108	54,864	54,356	53,728	54,510
Total	157,743	137,110	140,938	143,072	147,949	162,530	172,910	185,140	195,344	192,042	195,430	198,936	205,690	210,121
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

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 simplifying 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
• Video footage of Gunnislake station
• Calstock Railway Station video
• Calstock Railway Viaduct
• Bere Alston Railway Station