Princetown Railway
The Princetown Railway was a 10¼ mile single track branch railway line in Devon, England, that ran from Yelverton on the Plymouth to Tavistock line, to Princetown via four intermediate stations, Dousland, Burrator and Sheepstor Halt, Ingra Tor Halt and King Tor Halt.
Origins
In 1823 the Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway had opened its line connecting Princetown with a wharf on the River Plym near Plymouth. The original intention of encouraging agricultural development of the moor had been frustrated, but the line was carrying considerable traffic in granite from quarries a little below Princetown. It used horses for pulling the wagons and had a distinct track gauge of 4 ft 6in (1,372 mm). It did not convey passengers.
In 1852 business interests were formulating the prospectus of the South Devon and Tavistock Railway Company (SD&TR), which was to connect Tavistock with the main line railway near Plymouth. They wrote that arrangements would also be made, if found desirable, to form a branch line to Government establishments at Princetown.[1] The Government establishments were of course Dartmoor Prison, then recently re-opened as a convict prison. The proposed branch was not proceeded with, and the SD&TR opened its line on 22 June 1859. It left the Exeter - Plymouth line of the South Devon Railway near Marsh Mills and ran northwards to Tavistock, passing through a tunnel under Roborough Down, near the settlement of Yelverton.
In 1874 an independent company proposed a branch line from Yelverton to Princetown, with a short branch there to the prison. This scheme failed to gain support.
By now the Great Western Railway (GWR) had taken over the SD&TR line, and proposed a Princetown branch from Yelverton; it obtained powers by Act of Parliament on 13 August 1878, by which a nominally independent company, the Princetown Railway, was incorporated. The GWR was to work the line when built, and to have a controlling interest. Notwithstanding GWR sponsorship, the line was to be built on the standard gauge (4 ft 8½in, 1,435 mm).[2]
The Company purchased the upper section of the Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway (P&DR) for £22,000, in order to use the P&DR trackbed. It did so for much of the route, but it ran to the east of Yennadon Down. There were also a number of local realignments where very sharp tramway curves had to be smoothed for locomotive operation.
The line was evidently partly supported by the Home Office, as a financial grant towards the construction was expected to be made. It was also anticipated that convict labour might be used for the construction, but this was abandoned as impractical.[4]
On 7 July 1883 Colonel Yolland of the Board of Trade made an inspection of the line, but found several issues to be unsatisfactory, and he refused the sanction to open. He made a second visit after alterations had been made, and the line opened without ceremony on 11 August 1883.[2]
Operation
The Tavistock line had been equipped with mixed gauge track (standard and broad gauge rails) to accommodate the trains of the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) and the Princetown branch trains were able to use the standard gauge rails; they also travelled through to Plymouth for servicing.
The ruling gradient was 1 in 40, rising almost continuously to Princetown, with short-radius curves, making locomotive operation difficult.
The branch line left Yelverton in a southerly direction and curved sharply east on a steeply rising gradient. Immediately at the platform end there was a spur siding which led back to a 23 ft 6in turntable. Normal operation in the twentieth century was that an arriving train (from Princetown) would unload and then be propelled empty up the gradient past the siding connection. The engine would then move into the spur and the coaches would be gravitated into the platform under the control of the guard.[5]
Stations on the branch were:
- Dousland station; it was a block post and had a single platform.
- Burrator & Sheepstor Halt; it was opened on 4 February 1924, the area having become an attraction for ramblers. Burrator reservoir is nearby.
- Ingra Tor Halt; it opened on 2 March 1936.
- King Tor Halt; opened 2 April 1928
- Princetown; the terminus was at an altitude of 1373 feet above sea level.[5]
The motive power on the line in the twentieth century was almost exclusively the 44XX class of 2-6-2T; mixed train operation was commonly used.
Prisoners destined for HM Prison Dartmoor were no longer conveyed by the route after 1930 except during and just after World War 2, as the Southern Railway route to Tavistock and a road connection were more convenient.[5]
Ownership
| Locale | Devon |
|---|---|
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) |
The line was operated by the Great Western Railway, but owned by the Princetown Railway until 1 January 1922 when the Company amalgamated with the GWR. The line passed to British Railways in 1948 and closed on 3 March 1956.[5]
The route today
Today, the disused track is a popular walking destination across the moor. Much of the line now forms the route of the Dousland to Princetown Railway Track walkway and rough cycle track.[6]
References
- ↑ G H Anthony, The Tavistock, Launceston and Princetown Railways, Oakwood Press, Salisbury, 1973 reprinted 1981, ISBN 0-85361-223-4
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Anthony R Kingdom, The Princetown Branch, Oxford Publishing Co Ltd, Oxford, 1979, ISBN 86093 004 1
- ↑ E F Carter, An Historical Geography of the Railways of the British Isles, Cassell, London, 1959
- ↑ Minutes of Board meetings quoted in Kingdom, pages 64 and 66
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Vic Mitchell and Keith Smith, Branch Lines to Launceston and Princetown, Middleton Press, Midhurst, 1998, ISBN 1 901706 19 2
- ↑ "Dousland to Princetown Railway Track". The Classic Guide. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Princetown Railway. |
- Plymouth data: line history at Line history
- Plymouth data: route at
- Photographs of the line at the present day at