Hayle Railway

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The Hayle Railway (also known as the Hayle and Portreath Railway^{[citation needed]}) was an early Cornish railway, built to standard gauge, and opened in 1837. The railway served the engineering works and copper quays at Hayle with the copper mines of Redruth and Camborne carrying ore to the port and coal to the mines, before the construction of the Saltash Bridge and the direct rail route out of Cornwall.^[1]

The Hayle Railway ran east from Hayle harbour to Redruth Junction, and from there north to Portreath harbour and south to Tresavean and the Lanner mines.^[2] The seventeen mile long railway incorporated four cable-worked inclines (at Portreath, Angarrack, Penponds and Tresavean]]), three of which were later by-passed. The fourth was a significant structure at Portreath, housing a stationery steam winder that raised and lowered rolling stock to the harbourside. This worked into the 1930s; its remains can still be seen. Steam power was used from the start, giving the route an early advantage over the competing Redruth and Chasewater Railway.

Passenger services started in 1843 but the inclines meant that services over the route were limited, for reasons of safety. Passenger services were diverted in 1852 onto the new route that avoided the inclines.

In 1852 the West Cornwall Railway purchased the Hayle Railway, and incorporated much of the route into a new Truro to Penzance line.^[2] However, this required new stations at Hayle and Redruth, and other sections of the line were also abandoned for more suitable routes. The West Cornwall Railway Company was unable to lay the 7 ft 0¼ in (2,140 mm) broad gauge rails stipulated in its Act of Parliament and so in 1866 leased the railway to a Joint Committee dominated by the Great Western Railway.

[edit] Stations

• Redruth (terminus on different site to present station)
• Carn Brea
• Camborne
• Penponds
• Hayle (terminus on different site to present station)

[edit] References

• Cornish Railways