Lelant railway station is on the waterfront of the

Hayle estuary The Hayle Estuary ( kw, Heyl, meaning ''estuary'') is an estuary in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is one of the few natural harbours on the north coast of south-west England and during the prehistoric and early medieval periods wa ...

below the village of

Lelant Lelant ( kw, Lannanta) is a village in west Cornwall, England, UK. It is on the west side of the Hayle Estuary, about southeast of St Ives and one mile (1.6 km) west of Hayle.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 ''Land's End'' The v ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, United Kingdom. It is from via .

History

2009 at Lelant station - road side of the building

The station was opened by the Great Western Railway on 1 June 1877 on their new branch line from to . No goods sidings were ever provided at the station, but a line was laid from the station out to sidings on Lelant Wharf where traffic could be transferred between railway wagons and boats. The St Ives branch was laid using broad gauge, but in October 1888 a

third rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway ...

was added to the line from St Erth to allow standard gauge goods trains to reach the wharf. The last broad gauge train ran on Friday 20 May 1892; since the following Monday all trains have been standard gauge. Goods traffic was withdrawn in May 1956 and the station is now unstaffed. The original wooden station building is now a private dwelling and has been extended in a sympathetic style. The village is at the top of the road that climbs the hill opposite the station entrance. The Old Station house was renovated in July 2009 and serves cream teas. A

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term a ...

at the St Erth end of the platform gave access to a

slipway A slipway, also known as boat ramp or launch or boat deployer, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats, and for launching and retrieving small ...

with the crossing gates hung on

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 under ...

pillars in the local style. Three of these pillars still stand by the line. In 2022, the platform was extended by to allow it to accommodate trains with five carriages.

Description

The station is north of St Erth and faces the

Hayle Estuary The Hayle Estuary ( kw, Heyl, meaning ''estuary'') is an estuary in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is one of the few natural harbours on the north coast of south-west England and during the prehistoric and early medieval periods wa ...

. There is just a single

platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...

, which is on the left of trains arriving from St Erth. Limited car parking is available, adjacent to the platform. The village is at the top of the road that climbs the hill opposite the station entrance.

Services

The station was served for several years by a very limited service of trains. Since May 2019, due to the reduction of services at , the station now has a more regular service with typically a train every 90 minutes between St Erth and St Ives, although it is generally hourly at the start and end of the day. On Sundays, the station has a very irregular service, with 4 trains each way. Lelant is a request stop. This means passengers wanting to join the train need to signal to the driver, and those who wish to alight need to inform the conductor.

Cultural references

In the book, "Tiny Stations", Lelant is the first station

Dixe Wills Dixe Wills is an author and journalist, mostly writing green travel pieces for ''The Guardian''.Railway stations in Cornwall Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1877 Former Great Western Railway stations Railway stations served by Great Western Railway Railway request stops in Great Britain DfT Category F2 stations