Falmouth Docks railway station ( kw, Porthklos Aberfala) is situated in

Falmouth, Cornwall Falmouth ( ; kw, Aberfala) is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,797 (2011 census). Etymology The name Falmouth is of English or ...

, England. It was opened in 1863 as the terminus of the

Maritime Line The Maritime Line is a railway line that runs in the valley of the River Fal from Truro, the county town, to Falmouth on the south coast of Cornwall, England. History The railway line, now known as The Maritime Line, was built by the Cornwal ...

from , although since 1970 has been the principal station for the town. Falmouth Docks is measured from . Services are operated 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 ...

, who also manage the station.

History

The original

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 ...

Act had provided for a terminus at Falmouth on the waterfront at Greenbank. By the time the line was built the

packet ship Packet boats were medium-sized boats designed for domestic mail, passenger, and freight transportation in European countries and in North American rivers and canals, some of them steam driven. They were used extensively during the 18th and 19th ...

s, which had been the commercial justification for the line, no longer called there. Instead new docks had been constructed near

Pendennis Castle Pendennis Castle (Cornish: ''Penn Dinas'', meaning "headland fortification") is an artillery fort constructed by Henry VIII near Falmouth, Cornwall, England between 1540 and 1542. It formed part of the King's Device programme to protect agai ...

to which the railway was diverted. The grand Falmouth Hotel was opened in 1865 just outside the station, with sea views across Gyllyngvase beach. The railway,

Falmouth docks Falmouth Docks are a deep-water docks of the town of Falmouth in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The docks are the southern shore of the Fal Estuary which is the third largest natural harbour in the world and the deepest in Europe. They ex ...

and hotel companies shared several directors, the hotel company even leased the refreshment rooms on the station. The station was constructed out of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

was long and wide, the three tracks and two platforms being covered by a

train shed A train shed is a building adjacent to a station building where the tracks and platforms of a railway station are covered by a roof. It is also known as an overall roof. Its primary purpose is to store and protect from the elements train car ...

. As no other stations were provided in the town at the time it was known just as 'Falmouth', and was opened on 24 August 1863. A large

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 ...

and a long

engine shed The motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is the place where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained when not being used. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine shed ...

were both provided just outside the station. A siding ran down to the docks from the end of the platform. A

camping coach Camping coaches were holiday accommodation offered by many railway companies in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland from the 1930s. The coaches were old passenger vehicles no longer suitable for use in trains, which were converted to ...

was positioned here by the Western Region from 1962 to 1964. The need to provide accommodation for all the staff were met by building twenty dwellings, known as Railway Cottages, in four terraces of five dwellings. These are situated just below the station by the entrance to the docks. The Cornwall Railway was amalgamated into the

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. The station was closed on 7 December 1970 when a new station, also named 'Falmouth', was opened away and nearer to the town; on 5 May 1975 the latter was renamed 'The Dell' and the 1863 station was reopened under its original name. On 15 May 1989, both were renamed: 'Falmouth' (this station) became 'Falmouth Docks', and 'The Dell' became 'Falmouth Town'. Passengers now have a choice of three stations in the town: Falmouth Docks, , and (opened in 1925).

Stationmasters

*E. Healey 1863 - 1864 *Mr. Morcom 1864 *Thomas Henry Hocking ca. 1865 - 1900 *James Parsons 1900 - 1902 (formerly station master at ) *William Henry Higginson 1902 - 1911 (formerly station master at , afterwards station master at ) *Albert William Lofting 1911 - 1919 (formerly station master at , afterwards station master at Truro) *Thomas Arthur 1919 - 1924 *James Pegler 1924 - 1926 (formerly station master at ) *E.S. Prior 1926 - 1929 (formerly station master at ) *R.G. Randall from 1929 (formerly station master at Totnes) *J.H. Blewett from 1933 *Fred Piper 1935 - 1954 *A.C. Smith 1954 (formerly station master at )

Location

The station is at the south end of the town on the hillside above the docks and near

and Gyllyngvase Beach. The single platform is on the left hand side of trains arriving from . It is covered by a canopy but features a

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

panel on its wall which depicts the link between the railway and the area's maritime heritage. It has level access from the car park.

Passenger volume

While passenger numbers have been steadily growing at most Cornish stations in recent years, the growth at Falmouth Docks has been exceptional. More than 28,000 people passed through the station in the twelve months ending March 2003, but this had more than doubled just four years later and almost quadrupled by 2014–15. Falmouth Town, however, continues to be the busiest of the three stations in Falmouth. The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

Falmouth Docks - GWR 150263 arrived from Truro

All trains are operated by

to and from . Until 2009 they ran approximately once each hour – often much less than this – but they were then increased in frequency. They are now every 30 minutes Monday - Saturday day time and hourly at evenings and on Sundays. This is possible because of the new passing loop at .

Community Rail

The railway from Truro to Falmouth is designated as a

community rail 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 ...

line 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 "

" name.Department for Transport, Rail Group (2006), ''Route prospectus for the … The Maritime Line''

References

External links

Video footage of Falmouth Docks railway station
{{Cornwall railway stations Buildings and structures in Falmouth, Cornwall Railway stations in Cornwall Former Great Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1863 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1970 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1975 Railway stations served by Great Western Railway Railway stations serving harbours and ports in the United Kingdom Reopened railway stations in Great Britain DfT Category F1 stations