Newquay railway station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Newquay | |||
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|---|---|---|---|
| Location | |||
| Place | Newquay | ||
| Local authority | Restormel, Cornwall | ||
| Operations | |||
| Station code | NQY | ||
| Managed by | First Great Western | ||
| Platforms in use | 1 | ||
| Live departures and station information from National Rail | |||
| Annual Rail Passenger Usage | |||
| 2004/05 * | 83,712 | ||
| 2005/06 * | 71,301 | ||
| History | |||
| 1846 1 June 1874 20 June 1874 |
Tramway constructed Converted to steam railway Passenger service began |
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| National Rail - UK railway stations | |||
| * Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Newquay from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. | |||
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Newquay railway station is the terminus of the Atlantic Coast Line that runs from Par railway station. It is operated by First Great Western and is situated close to the town centre and beaches in Newquay, Cornwall, United Kingdom.
Contents |
[edit] History
The first railway at Newquay was a horse-worked line from the harbour to Hendra Crazey. It was built by Joseph Treffry in stages between 1846 and 1849. The line was extended on 1 June 1874 by the Cornwall Minerals Railway, goods trains now reaching Fowey. A branch line from Tolcarn Junction, just outside Newquay, ran to Gravel Hill Mine near Treamble where there was an iron mine.
Passenger trains were introduced on 20 June 1876. The Great Western Railway operated all the trains from 1 October 1877 and bought out the Cornwall Minerals Railway on 1 July 1896.
The original station had just a single platform and a turntable at the end of the platform was used to release locomotives from incoming trains. The station was rebuilt in 1905 with two platforms serving three tracks. A new line was opened from Shepherds, on the Treamble branch, to Perranporth on 2 January 1905, which allowed a new service to run from Newquay to Truro. The following year through carriages started to be run from London using the direct line from Par..
The main departure platform was lengthened in 1928 and again in 1935; the second platform was lengthened in 1938. These enlargements were to accommodate the longer trains that were now brining holidaymakers from London and elsewhere. Extensive carriage sidings were laid on the south side of the station to store these trains between services.
The station started to be run down following the closure of the line to Truro on 4 February 1963. The goods yard was closed in 1965; the roof on platforms 2 and 3 was removed in 1964. Platform 3 was shortened in 1966 and its locomotive release line taken out of use on 4 October 1972, by which time four of the carriage sidings had been removed. From 5 October 1987 the station was reduced to just a single platform.
It is proposed to bring the second platform back into use at Newquay to cater for First Great Western's express service direct from London Paddington.[citation needed]
[edit] Newquay harbour
The original terminus of the Newquay Railway was at the harbour. Horses hauled wagons along a line that wound between houses to reach the top of a 1 in 4½ incline that carried the line down to the harbour. Wagons were lowered on a cable down the incline, which was in a tunnel dug out of the cliff. At the foot the track ran onto the eastern breakwater but a shunt-back anf wooden trestle bridge gave access to the a jetty in the middle of the harbour.
After steam locomotives were introduced by the Cornwall Minerals Railway in 1874, wagons continued to be moved between Newquay station and the harbour incline by horses. Traffic handled at the harbour gradually declined and the line was taken out of use in 1926.
[edit] Trenance Viaduct
Between Newquay station and Tolcarn Junction the line crosses the Trenance valley on a 154 yard (141m) viaduct. The first structure, opened on 29 January 1849, was a timber structure on stone piers. It was much light than the similarly-constructed Cornwall Railway viaducts that were built a few years later, and very different from the imposing granite Treffry Viaduct built by Treffry for his Par tramway.
The piers were raised and new wrought iron girders installed ready for the opening of the line for locomotives in 1874. This was replaced by the present masonry structure on 27 March 1939. It carried two tracks from 20 March 1946; the line to Tolcarn Junction was singled on 23 November 1964 but the second line was retained for shunting purposes until the rationalisation in the 1980s.
[edit] Services
Newquay is the terminus of the branch line from Par which sees a mixture of self-contained services and ones that run through to Plymouth.
On summer weekends all the local services are withdrawn and replaced by a mixture of First Great Western trains from London Paddington and CrossCountry trains from the North of England.
There is no Sunday service in the winter.
| Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quintrell Downs | First Great Western | Terminus | ||
| Par | CrossCountry | Terminus | ||
| Disused Railways | ||||
| Trewerry and Trerice Halt | Truro and Newquay Railway | Terminus | ||
[edit] Community rail
The trains between Par and Newquay are designated as a community rail service and is supported by marketing provided by the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership. The line is promoted under the "Atlantic Coast Line" name.
Three pubs in Newquay take part in the Atlantic Coast Line rail ale trail.
[edit] References
- Bennett, Alan (1988). The Great Western Railway in Mid Cornwall. Southampton: Kingfisher Railway Publications. ISBN 0-94618-453-4.
- Cooke, RA (1977). Track Layout Diagrams of the GWR and BR WR, Section 11: East Cornwall. Harwell: RA Cooke.
- Vaughan, John (1991). The Newquay Branch and its Branches. Sparkford: Haynes/Oxford Publishing Company. ISBN 0-86093-470-5.
[edit] External links
- Train times and station information for Newquay railway station from National Rail
- British Railway Stations - Newquay
| This station offers access to the South West Coast Path | |
|---|---|
| Distance to path | 50 yards |
| Next station anticlockwise | Hayle 35 miles |
| Next station clockwise | Barnstaple 123 miles
(Bodmin Parkway railway station is linked by bus with Padstow, 50 miles) |
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