St Austell railway station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| St Austell | |
 |
|
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Place | St Austell |
| Local authority | Restormel |
| Operations | |
| Managed by | First Great Western |
| Platforms in use | 2 |
| Annual entry/exit 04/05 | 0.275 million ** |
| History | |
| 1859 2000 |
Opened Rebuilt |
| National Rail - UK railway stations | |
| ** based on sales of tickets in 2004/05 financial year which end or originate at St Austell. Disclaimer (PDF) | |
St Austell Station serves the town of St Austell, Cornwall, UK. The station is operated by First Great Western as is every other station in Cornwall.
The station is situated on the hillside just above the town. The main buildings were rebuilt in 2000 and face the town's bus station. A dedicated bus service runs from here to The Eden Project.
The main entrance is on the platform for trains to Penzance, the other platform can be reached by footbridge or from the car park behind the station.
To reach the town turn right alongside the railway line and turn left down the hill by the footbridge.
The station is served by both local and long-distance trains, including the Night Riviera sleeper service.
[edit] History
St Austell opened with the Cornwall Railway on 4 May 1859. A report when the station opened stated that "the departure station is an ornamental wooden structure, having projecting verandahs at each side, waiting room, ticket office, &c., similar to the corresponding building at Lostwithiel. Nearly opposite is the arrival station, which is built of stone, with projecting verandah over the platform and having convenient waiting, porters', and lamp rooms. To the south of this is the goods shed, a stone building of the same dimensions as the goods shed at Lostwithiel, and the provision has been made here, for the accommodation of the heavy goods traffic that is anticipated from the district. Amongst other arrangements adopted, with the view of preventing collisions and inconvenience, it has been determined that the passenger traffic shall pass to the station through a street in front of the post office, and the goods traffic by Menacuddle Hill, in front of the Town Hall."
The goods shed was adjacent to the road which passed over the line on a level crossing. This was not authorised by the original Act of Parliament but was deemed unavoidable unless the road was given a very steep bridge to climb over the line. Palace Road was built along the back of the station in 1862 to make it possible for traffic from the east of the town to avoid the level crossing. The level crossing was finally closed on 21 September 1931. Road traffic now needs to cross the line on the bridge at the other end of the station, but a footbridge allows foot traffic to still cross the line at the old place.
A large warehouse was added on the town side of the line in 1862 (where the bus station now stands), financed by selling the land to a third party who then leased it back to the company. It was replaced by a large new goods depot (200 feet long by 40 feet wide) a short distance east of the station on 2 November 1931. For many years the original goods yard was used by Motorail trains which carried cars to Cornwall from London and many other places in England.
As well as the general traffic for a busy town, the station handled large volumes of china clay from the surrounding district, and of fish from Mevagissey. The steep hill from the town to the station casued problems for the horses hauling heavy wagons.
The Cornwall Railway was amalgamated into the Great Western Railway on 1 July 1889. The Great Western Railway was nationalised into British Railways from 1 January 1948 which was in privatised in the 1990s.
[edit] References
- The records of the Cornwall Railway can be consulted at The National Archives at Kew.
- West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser, Railway Special Edition, 1859.
- The Great Western Railway in Mid Cornwall, Alan Bennett, Kingfisher Railway Publications, Southampton 1988. ISBN 0-946184-53-4
[edit] External links
- Train times and station information for St Austell railway station from National Rail
- Street map and aerial photo of St Austell railway station from Multimap.com
| Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bodmin Parkway or Par * |
First Great Western Great Western Main Line |
Truro | ||
| Bodmin Parkway or Par * |
Virgin Trains Cross-Country Route |
Truro | ||
| Par | South West Trains very limited service |
Truro | ||
| * Not all trains call at this station | ||||
|}
