Cornish Riviera Express
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Cornish Riviera Express is an English express passenger train that has run from London to Penzance in Cornwall since 1904.
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[edit] History
Through trains from London Paddington station to Penzance began running on 1 March 1867 and included fast services such as the 10:15 a.m. Cornishman and 11:45 a.m. Flying Dutchman, but these still took nine hours or more for the journey.
A new express service with limited stops was promoted by the Great Western Railway, commencing on 1 July 1904. It left London at 10:10 a.m. and was timed to reach Penzance at 5:10 p.m. It conveyed six carriages to Penzance, including a restaurant car, and one more for Falmouth that was detached at Truro then added to a branch train to complete its journey. Other stops were made at Plymouth North Road (Devon), Gwinear Road (for the Helston branch), and St Erth (for the St Ives branch). The return train from Penzance started at 10:00 a.m. and called additionally at Devonport.
A public competition was announced in the August 1904 edition of the Railway Magazine to choose the name, the prize being three guineas (£3.15) . Among the 1,286 entries were two suggestions, The Cornish Riviera Limited and The Riviera Express, which were combined as The Cornish Riviera Express, although railwaymen tended to call it The Limited.
With the opening of a shorter route via Castle Cary in 1906, it was possible to start the train twenty minutes later from Paddington and still arrive in Penzance at the same time. New 68 foot (21 metre) "Dreadnought" carriages were scheduled for the train at the same time. By 1929 the timings had been reduced by another ten minutes and it was carrying through coaches for St Ives. On summer Saturdays there was normally more than one train run to carry the large number of passengers travelling to Cornwall for their holidays. Additional slip coaches were added to be dropped from the train on the move at various stations, and through coaches were detached at junctions to serve holiday destinations such as Weymouth, Minehead, Ilfracombe, Kingsbridge,and Newquay.
1935 saw new coaches replacing the "Dreadnoughts", this time 9 feet 7 inch (2.92 metre) wide "Centenary" carriages.
The Great Western Railway was nationalised into British Railways on 1 January 1948, but the service is now operated by First Great Western. The train has always used the best rolling stock on the line and is now operated using Inter City 125 trains which, despite making extra stops, complete the journey in just over 5 hours.
[edit] Sample timetables
These sample timetables give an idea of how the speed and calling points of the train have changed over the years. Times are for the London to Penzance service on Mondays to Fridays. Slip coaches and other portions detached from the main train are not included.
| Date | July 1904 |
Oct. 1920 |
Sep. 1940 |
June 1965 |
Sep. 1987 |
Dec. 2006 |
| Typical motive power |
City & Duke |
Star & Mogul |
King & Castle |
Western | HST | HST |
| London Paddington | 10:10 | 10:30 | 10:30 | 10:30 | 10:50 | 10:05 |
| Reading | — — | — — | — — | — — | — — | 10:31 |
| Taunton | — — | — — | — — | 12:33 | — — | — — |
| Exeter St Davids | — — | — — | 13:20 | 13:09 | 12:50 | 12:08 |
| Newton Abbot | — — | — — | — — | — — | — — | 12:29 |
| Plymouth North Road | 1437 | 14:53 | 14:35 | 14:30 | 13:50 | 13:07 |
| Devonport | — — | 15:00 | — — | — — | — — | — — |
| Liskeard | — — | — — | — — | 15:07 | 14:17 | 13:33 |
| Bodmin Road ♣ | — — | — — | — — | 15:21 | 14:30 | 13:45 |
| Par | — — | — — | 15:33 | 15:34 | 14:40 | 13:55 |
| St Austell | — — | — — | — — | 15:44 | 14:48 | 14:03 |
| Truro | 16:14 | 16:20 | 16:06 | 16:06 | 15:06 | 14:22 |
| Redruth | — — | — — | — — | 16:24 | 15:19 | 14:33 |
| Camborne | — — | — — | — — | 16:32 | 15:25 | 14:41 |
| Gwinear Road | 16:46 | 17:30 | 16:35 | closed | closed | closed |
| Hayle | — — | — — | — — | 16:41 | — — | 14:51 |
| St Erth | 16:56 | 17:04 | 16:45 | 16:45 | 15:35 | 14:54 |
| Penzance | 17:10 | 17:15 | 17:00 | 17:00 | 15:46 | 15:10 |
| Journey time | 7hr 0m | 6hr 45m | 6hr 30m | 6hr 30m | 4hr 56m | 5hr 5m |
♣ Now named Bodmin Parkway
[edit] Publicity
In addition to the Cornish Riviera Express, the Great Western Railway promoted the "Cornish Riviera" in other ways. A poster campaign likened the climate to that of Italy and featured maps of Cornwall and that country which were arranged to show the similarity of the shape of the respective country and county. Postcards were also produced showing local views and a map of the "Cornish Riviera".
A series of books entitled The Cornish Riviera were published. The first was a 152 page book in 1904 - the first ever published by the railway company - written by A.M. Broadley, and revised several times, a total of five editions being published up until 1926. An abridged 36 page booklet was also produced for free overseas distribution. In 1928 a new version of the book, written by SPB Mais made its first appearance, with revised editions published in 1929 and 1934.
Other publicity featuring the Cornish Riviera Express were a jigsaw and a lantern-slide lecture which could be hired for shows to interested groups around the country.
[edit] References
- Bennett, Alan (1988). The Great Western Railway in West Cornwall. Cheltenham: Runpast Publishing. DOI:1990. ISBN 1-870754-12-3.
- Langley, RC; Jenkins, SC (2002). The West Cornwall Railway. Usk: Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-85361-589-6.
- Mais, SPB (1928). The Cornish Riviera. London: Great Western Railway. DOI:edition, 1934 Third edition, 1934.
- Wilson, Roger Burdett (1970). Go Great Western:A History of GWR Publicity. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. DOI:1987. ISBN 0-946537-38-0.
