St Germans railway station serves the village of St Germans in

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 ...

, England. The station is managed by Great Western Railway and is situated 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 ...

from the line's northern terminus of and from via . To the east of the station, the thirteen arch stone viaduct of 1908 (which replaced the original timber one built in 1859) takes the railway over the

River Tiddy The River Tiddy ( kw, Teudhi)Place-names in the Standard Written Form (SWF)

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 ornamental design ... conveniently situated close to the town, and consists of arrival, departure, and goods stations, all three being constructed of stone".

The Cornwall Railway was amalgamated into the Great Western Railway on 1 July 1889. On 1 January 1948, the Great Western Railway was nationalised, amalgamating with other railways to form British Rail, which was privatised in the 1990s. In 1973, a signal panel was located in the old station buildings on the platform served by trains to , although this has since closed. The other building has been private accommodation since 1992; a number of

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 ...

es in the old sidings are available to let.

Accidents and incidents

A fatal accident occurred near St Germans just two days after the opening of the railway. On 6 May 1859, the 7.25 p.m. train from Plymouth was approaching St Germans when the engine left the rails, hit the parapet of the wooden viaduct across Grove Creek and fell 38 feet into the mud below, landing upside down; two of the coaches also ended up in the creek. The driver, fireman, and one of the guards were killed. A second guard, Richard Paddon, was given a reward of five pounds () for his part in keeping the remainder of the train on the viaduct and helping to rescue the survivors.

Facilities

Both platforms have step-free entrances (though the footbridge linking them has steps) and basic facilities - waiting shelters, bike racks and bench seats on each side. Running information is provided by timetable posters and a public telephone. No ticket machine is available, so passengers must buy tickets prior to travel or on the train.

Services

St Germans - GWR 43177 rear of Cardiff service

St Germans is served by about half the trains on the

between and - these are mostly local stopping trains, but a few run through to/from

London Paddington station Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a 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 provided by the Great W ...

. Sunday trains also call here, but on an irregular frequency with sizable gaps at certain times of day.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Germans Railway Station Railway stations in Cornwall Former Great Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1859 Railway stations served by Great Western Railway Isambard Kingdom Brunel railway stations DfT Category F2 stations