Devonport railway station serves the
Devonport area of
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
in
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
, England. It is from via . It is managed by
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
.
History
The station opened with the
Cornwall Railway
The Cornwall Railway was a broad gauge railway from Plymouth in Devon to Falmouth in Cornwall, England, built in the second half of the nineteenth century. It was constantly beset with shortage of capital for the construction, and was eventu ...
on 4 May 1859. It was described at the time as "built of rubble masonry, in the Italian style of architecture, which style is adopted at all stations on the railway. It consists of an arrival, departure, and goods stations, the two former being stone structures, and the last a wooden erection".
In 1865 the Royal Agricultural Show was held at nearby at Pennycomequick and so the opportunity was taken to enlarge the platforms at Devonport. A "refreshment booth" was also erected for the duration of the show to cater for the large number of visitors expected.
The Cornwall Railway was amalgamated into the
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
on 1 July 1889. The Great Western Railway was
nationalised
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
into
British Railways
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
from 1 January 1948 which was in turn privatised in the 1990s.
For a while after 1948 the station was known as Devonport Albert Road to distinguish it from the ex-
London and South Western Railway
The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exeter ...
Kings Road station (now the site of the
City College Plymouth). The name reverted to just "Devonport" from 6 May 1968.
The
goods shed
A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train. A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built ...
was originally situated in front of the station near the tunnel entrance, but a new goods yard was opened in about 1892 on a larger site east of the station. This was accessed beneath a girder bridge that carried Valletort Road. The old goods shed and sidings were removed in 1903 and replaced by new sidings which handled milk traffic until 1957.
Valletort Road goods depot was closed in April 1957 and was then used for about forty years by the railway civil engineers. The station became unstaffed from 19 May 1969.
Location
The station is in a cutting at the top of an incline which climbs up from Plymouth. Immediately to the west of the station the line curves sharply to the right and enters a short tunnel. The entrance is on the platform served by trains to
Gunnislake
Gunnislake ( kw, Dowrgonna) is a large village in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated in the Tamar Valley approximately ten miles (16 km) north of Plymouth
Gunnislake is in the civil parish of Calstock and is close to C ...
and
Saltash
Saltash (Cornish: Essa) is a town and civil parish in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It had a population of 16,184 in 2011 census. Saltash faces the city of Plymouth over the River Tamar and is popularly known as "the Gateway to Corn ...
. The second platform that is served by trains to
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
is reached by a footbridge. To walk to Devonport, turn right out of the station, right again over the tunnel. On reaching the main road the shops and
Dockyard
A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...
are down the hill to your left. The
Torpoint Ferry
The Torpoint Ferry is a car and pedestrian chain ferry connecting the A374 which crosses the Hamoaze, a stretch of water at the mouth of the River Tamar, between Devonport in Plymouth and Torpoint in Cornwall. The service was established in 17 ...
can be reached by turning left out of the station and then following the park down the hill. To walk to Stoke, turn left out of the station and at the main road turn left again.
Services
![Devonport - fGWR 150249 Penzance service](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Devonport_-_fGWR_150249_Penzance_service.JPG)
Devonport is served by
Tamar Valley Line
The Tamar Valley Line is a railway line from Plymouth, Devon, to Gunnislake, Cornwall, in England, also known as the Gunnislake branch line. The line follows the River Tamar for much of its route. Like all railway lines in Devon and Cornwall, i ...
services from to , and also by certain trains on the
Cornish Main Line
The Cornish Main Line ( kw, Penn-hyns-horn Kernow) is a railway line in Cornwall and Devon in the United Kingdom. It runs from Penzance to Plymouth, crossing from Cornwall into Devon over the famous Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash.
It directly ...
to and from , some of which continue eastwards beyond Plymouth towards or
London Paddington
Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a London station group, Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services pro ...
.
Signalling
The station was initially controlled by disc-and-crossbar signals controlled locally. The first
signal box
In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...
opened on 9 November 1877, a 20-lever box with semaphore signals, but it was extended in about 1892 to 29 levers to accommodate the new goods yard at Valletort Road.
The signal box was replaced by a new one in October 1899 when the line was doubled to
Keyham. It closed on 26 November 1960 since when multiple-aspect signals have been controlled by the panel signal box at
Plymouth railway station
Plymouth railway station serves the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. It is on the northern edge of the city centre, close to the North Cross roundabout. It Is the second busiest station in the county of Devon, and is the largest of the six su ...
.
Community railway
The railway from Plymouth to Gunnislake is designated as a
community railway
Community rail in Britain is the support of railway lines and stations by local organisations, usually through community rail partnerships (CRPs) comprising railway operators, local councils, and other community organisations, and rail user group ...
and is supported by marketing provided by the
Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership
The Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership is the largest Community Rail Partnership in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1991 to promote the use of, and improvements to, rural railways in Devon and Cornwall, and also to promote the places serv ...
. The line is promoted under the "
Tamar Valley Line
The Tamar Valley Line is a railway line from Plymouth, Devon, to Gunnislake, Cornwall, in England, also known as the Gunnislake branch line. The line follows the River Tamar for much of its route. Like all railway lines in Devon and Cornwall, i ...
" name. The Lounge
pub
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
near Devonport station takes part in the Tamar Valley Line
rail ale trail
A rail ale trail is a marketing exercise in the United Kingdom that is designed to promote tourism to a rural area, by encouraging people to visit a series of pubs that are close to railway station, stations along a railway line. Participants a ...
which is designed to promote the use of the line. The line is also part of the
Dartmoor Sunday Rover
The Dartmoor Sunday Rover was a Devon County Council-supported bus and rail network in Devon, England. It was withdrawn after the 2015 season.
The network included buses operated by Stagecaoch Devon, Country Bus, Dartline and Target Travel. Th ...
network of integrated bus and rail routes.
See also
*
Albert Road Halt railway station
Albert Road Halt was a railway station in Plymouth in the English county of Devon. It was located between Ford and Devonport Park tunnels.
History
The station was opened by the Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway on 1 N ...
(the nearby small LSWR station)
*
Railways in Plymouth
The network of railways in Plymouth, Devon, England, was developed by companies affiliated to two competing railways, the Great Western Railway and the London and South Western Railway. At their height two main lines and three branch lines serv ...
References
Further reading
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{{Devon railway stations
Railway stations in Plymouth, Devon
Former Great Western Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1859
Railway stations served by Great Western Railway
1859 establishments in England
DfT Category F2 stations