Menheniot railway station serves the village of

Menheniot Menheniot (pronounced Men-en-yut; kw, Mahynyet) is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is southeast of Liskeard. The meaning of the name is "sanctuary of Neot" (from ''minihi'' and ''Neot''). Menheniot ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

, England. It is from via . The station 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 ...

, whose local trains serve the station.

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

"of small extent, consisting of a departure station, a stone building, having a projecting roof thrown over the platform for the protection of passengers. At the 'arrival' side of the line a stone erection, with a covered seat, has been provided, but no enclosed room".

The following year saw two cottages built for the use of the railway staff working here. The "stone erection" is still in existence, used as a waiting shelter. 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 p ...

into

British Rail 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 ra ...

from 1 January 1948 which was privatised in the 1990s. Under British Rail the staff were removed from the station. For a few years the station was only served on request,GB eNRT, May 2017 Edition, Table 135 but since December 2020 services have stopped without request.

Accidents and incidents

December 1873

On 2 December 1873 two goods trains arrived at the station where they could pass each other before resuming their journey on the single tracks towards St Germans and

Liskeard Liskeard ( ; kw, Lyskerrys) is a small ancient stannary and market town in south-east Cornwall, South West England. It is situated approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of Plymouth, west of the Devon border, and 12 miles (20 km) eas ...

. The

crossing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains or ...

was not at that time equipped with starting signals. The train for the latter had a clear line and so the signalman called out "All right Dick," to the guard. Unfortunately the guard for the other train was also called Dick and so told his driver to start, but the line was not clear as another train was already on the way down from St Germans.

William Yolland William Yolland CB, FRS FRSA (17 March 1810 – 4 September 1885) was an English military surveyor, astronomer and engineer, and was Britain's Chief Inspector of Railways from 1877 until his death. He was a redoubtable campaigner for railway s ...

, the investigating officer for the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

, recommended that the staff and ticket system of regulating trains be adopted on all single lines.

February 1897

An accident occurred on 9 February 1897 during the reconstruction of Coldrennick Viaduct, which is situated just outside the station. A gang of 17 workmen were suspended below the viaduct on a platform when it broke away, throwing 12 of the men 140 feet to their deaths. Two of the gangers were criticised for not fixing safety chains and using poor quality wood for the platforms.

November 1897

Another accident happened on 15 November 1897 during the reconstruction of nearby Trevido Viaduct. On this occasion a rope gave way while five men were hoisting a wooden beam up onto the new viaduct. One of them let go of his rope too soon, which meant that the wood swung free and knocked two of the gang to their deaths.

Services

Menheniot is served by six

trains between and in each direction on weekdays, mainly at peak periods. On Sundays, Menheniot receives three trains in the direction of Penzance and one train in the direction of Plymouth.

References

External links

{{cornwall, state=collapsed Railway stations in Cornwall Former Great Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1859 Railway stations served by Great Western Railway DfT Category F2 stations 1873 disasters in the United Kingdom 1897 disasters in the United Kingdom