Bere Alston railway station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bere Alston railway station is situated near the village of Bere Alston in Devon, England, on the Tamar Valley Line, which connects Plymouth to Gunnislake.
It was opened for passenger traffic on 2 June 1890 by the Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway as an intermediate station on that company's line from Lydford to Devonport, which – being in effect an extension of the London and South Western Railway's main line from London to Lydford, enabling the LSWR to reach Plymouth independently of the Great Western Railway – was immediately leased to the LSWR. Bere Alston station was 220 miles and 15 chains (354.35 km) from Waterloo station (the LSWR terminus in London).
In 1908 Bere Alston became a junction station when the Bere Alston and Calstock Light Railway (an extension of the East Cornwall Mineral Railway from Callington to Calstock) was opened.
Today, the station remains open – as an unstaffed halt – but it is no longer situated on a main line as the LSWR's route northeastward of Bere Alston – taken over by the Southern Railway in 1923 and by British Railways in 1948 – was closed on 6 May 1968. The survival of the route from Plymouth via Bere Alston (where trains reverse at the single platform remaining in service) to Calstock and Gunnislake is almost entirely due to the fact that these communities are situated in an area which for geographical reasons has relatively poor road connections.
[edit] External links
- Train times and station information for Bere Alston railway station from National Rail
- Map and aerial photo of Bere Alston railway station from Multimap.com
| Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bere Ferrers | First Great Western Tamar Valley Line |
Calstock | ||
| UK railway stations |
|---|
