North Cornwall Railway
The North Cornwall Railway also known as the North Cornwall Line, was a standard gauge railway line running from Halwill in Devon, to Padstow in Cornwall, at a distance of via Launceston, Camelford and Wadebridge. The line was opened in late 19th century by the North Cornwall Railway Company with support throughout much of its construction and existence by the London and South Western Railway.
The railway line was part of a drive by the LSWR to expand its influence in the South West, connect its rail network with the Bodmin and Wadebridge line, and to develop both holiday and freight traffic to Cornwall. The LSWR had opened a line connecting Exeter with Holsworthy in 1879, and by encouraging the NCR it planned to create railway access to previously inaccessible parts of the northern coastal area.
As part of the 1923 railway groupings, the North Cornwall line came under the full ownership of LSWR, as the LSWR itself came under the ownership of Southern Railway. From 1948 the line was nationalised and brought under British Railways, where it remained until the line's closure in 1967 as a part of the Beeching Axe. Today the NCR's trackbed is used for the Camel Trail and the heritage Launceston Steam Railway.
In his tribute to the network of railway lines operated by the LSWR in North and West Devon and North Cornwall, T. W. E. Roch wrote that "There are few more fascinating lines than the one which leads to North Cornwall from Okehampton."
History
Background
In the 19th century, Padstow was an important fishing port, but it was hampered by lack of land communication with its markets. The Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway opened in 1834, but it limited its horizons to connecting the harbour at Wadebridge to the immediate hinterland.A Main line railway connection reached Cornwall with the opening of the Cornwall Railway in 1859, a company allied with other companies making up a broad gauge alliance, led by the Great Western Railway. The Cornwall Railway ran east to west in the southern part of the county, and it had exhausted its financial resources in building its line through the difficult terrain.
The struggle to achieve railway dominance in the West Country was fierce between the GWR and the rival London and South Western Railway company. The LSWR had the intention of reaching Cornwall with a standard gauge line, but found necessity in concentrating its resources further east, it had been unable to make progress towards connecting Cornwall into its network. In 1847 it had purchased the Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway, at a time when the nearest section of its own network was at Bishopstoke.
Through the medium of nominally independent aligned local companies, the LSWR had reached in Devon in 1874, which acted as an interchange to via the South Devon Railway, and in 1879 the LSWR built a branch from Meldon Junction, west of, to in north west Devon.
Line construction and staggered opening
The North Cornwall Railway Company, supported by the LSWR, was established to develop the northern part of the Cornish peninsula; its line was to leave the Okehampton–Holsworthy line line at and continue through Launceston to. The prospectus of the NCR company indicated that an extension of would be allow the railway to connect from Wadebridge to the county town of Truro.The North Cornwall Railway obtained its authorising act of Parliament, the on 18 August, but money was scarce and construction was slow, so it was not until 21 July 1886 that the first section opened, and the line was completed in 1899. The LSWR was to work the line for 55% of gross receipts.
The line was opened in stages:
- Halwill to Launceston; ; 21 July 1886
- Launceston to Tresmeer; ; 28 July 1892
- Tresmeer to Camelford; ; 14 August 1893
- Camelford to Delabole; ; 18 October 1893
- Delabole to Wadebridge; ; 1 June 1895
- Wadebridge to Padstow; ; 27 March 1899.
Commercial potential
The fishing activity at Padstow had long been declining, and the LSWR had hopes of reviving it. Their wishes were realised and a substantial increase of fish tonnage carried was experienced over the first years; a special connection to the fish quay had been provided. There was a large slate quarry at Delabole, at the time said to be the largest man-made excavation in the world and considerable traffic was derived from that.Tourist and holiday passenger traffic was also sought, as by the end of the nineteenth century when the line was completed this business was well established at comparable locations elsewhere. In the 1920s the areas of Padstow and Wadebridge were described as 'formerly neglected' referring to the time before the railway was built, but the same guide book then continues to say that the only attraction in the area is 'yachting' although the golf course at St Enodoc is also listed as a reason to visit.
However apart from Launceston and Wadebridge the very long single-track line served only small rural communities, and never achieved the importance that its promoters had hoped for. Fish traffic and ice for the ships were always important commodities on the line, as was the seasonal holidaymaker traffic for Padstow and several resorts served indirectly by the railway.
Takeover by the LSWR
Worked throughout its existence by the LSWR, the North Cornwall Line was dependent on the larger company, and in 1894 terms were agreed for a sale to the LSWR.Proposed extension onto Newquay and Truro
With progress being made in Line's construction, a parliamentary request was issued for a line from Padstow to Newquay and Truro, and from there with running powers over GWR lines to Falmouth and Penzance. This request was granted though the , which also included provisions for slight deviations in route and scheduling from previously approved plans. However, the extension was an aspiration for which there was no possibility of raising the necessary finance, and the plan was abandoned.Despite the failure of the proposal, the GWR remained concerned by the prospect of further LSWR expansion, and it is said that this prompted the GWR to increase its presence in Cornwall. This resulted in the GWR constructing the Truro–Newquay Line, and the Par–Newquay Atlantic Coast Line.
Padstow harbour improvements
In 1911 a scheme was developed to improve the fishing harbour arrangements at Padstow; this was supported by the government and the LSWR; the company alone spent £10,350 on the dock wall and sidings and sheds and took up £30,000 of the harbour commissioners' bonds. The work was completed by 1920, by which time the LSWR was the dominant partner in the operation of the harbour.Financial reconstruction
The building of the North Cornwall Line had been undertaken by four different financial entities for reasons of raising finance at a difficult time. In 1912 the LSWR chairman, Herbert Walker, proposed a capital reconstruction under which a single North Cornwall Railway Leased Line stock would be created from the four subsidiaries; £825,000 of capital was transferred in this way, the arrangement being approved in the South Western Railway Act 1913 on 15 August 1913.Grouping and nationalisation
Under the provisions of the Grouping Act, on 1 January 1923, the railway companies of Great Britain were amalgamated into "The Big Four" companies. As a part of railway grouping, the North Cornwall Railway was absorbed by the LSWR which itself became a "constituent company" of the newly established Southern Railway. While the process of grouping took practical effect at the beginning of 1923, although a number of technical requirements resulted in the official transfer dates varying.Under the provisions of the Transport Act 1947 the railways of Great Britain were nationalised into British Railways at the beginning of 1948, with the North Cornwall Line was placed into the British Rail Southern Region.
Line closure
Throughout its existence the North Cornwall line had operated against the odds, its long line serving sparsely populated and relatively unproductive terrain. As the costs of unproductive railway operation came into focus following the Beeching Report, the line had only its romantic appeal to offer, with even the highly seasonal summer holiday traffic falling away in the face of road transport and more attractive destinations. It closed on 3 October 1966, the Wadebridge to Padstow section continuing to be served by Bodmin trains until it too closed on 28 January 1967.With the cessation of Padstow–Wadebridge services, Cornwall County Council purchased the trackbed from British Railways and in 1980 converted the bed to into the Camel Trail. A section of trackbed from Launceston is now in use as the narrow gauge Launceston Steam Railway.
Train services
The thin population meant that little intermediate traffic was generated, and a passenger service of four or five daily trains was operated almost throughout the life of the line.The route between Launceston and Padstow was not designed for speed. The single line route required several sections at a gradient of 1 in 73 to allow for the rise from near Sea Level at Padstow to a summit at 860 feet above Sea Level between Camelford and Otterham and the line constantly curved, typically with a radius of 30 chains, in order to follow the contours and avoid costly earthworks. The result was a typical journey from Halwill to Padstow that occupied 90 to 100 minutes down and up to 110 minutes in the up direction. These times were reduced over the years with more powerful locomotives so that by the 1940s journey times between Launceston and Padstow were typically 80 minutes in the down direction and 90 minutes in the up. The maximum speed permitted on the North Cornwall line was 55 mph.
The 1938 Bradshaw's Railway Guide shows five down and six up trains a day on the line, plus a first up train from Launceston to Halwill and a last up train from Padstow to Launceston, and a last down train from Halwill to Launceston. All the trains called at all stations with the exception of the Atlantic Coast Express, the 11:00 from Waterloo, which ran non-stop Exeter St Davids to Halwill, then Launceston, Otterham, Camelford, Delabole, Port Isaac Road and Wadebridge, arriving in Padstow at 4:24 after a journey. The train conveyed a restaurant car throughout. The Saturday service was similar, although congestion earlier in the journey meant a slightly slower journey. There was no Sunday service.
Tender engines were preferred on the line, the Adams Jubilee class being dominant at first, supplanted by the T9 class 4-4-0 being dominant in the Edwardian era. Until the mid-1940s the weight restriction over Meldon Viaduct and the short turntable at Padstow prevented anything larger than the Southern Railway mixed traffic 2-6-0 types from working over the line. However, after the turntable was replaced, the Bulleid Light Pacific locomotives were able to use the line. On summer Saturdays in the 1950s, some trains loaded to ten coaches, and in that era the Standard 2-6-4T class came into use on the line.
While the GWR could easily serve major Devon and Cornwall resorts on its main line and branches, the rugged North Cornwall terrain prevented this. However Southern National omnibus connections gave journey options: Tintagel and Boscastle had good connections from Camelford, Newquay from Wadebridge, and Bedruthan and Trevone Bay from Padstow. Otterham is marked in the timetable as being the "Station for Wilsey Down and Davidstow and Crackington Haven ".
By 1964 the passenger service had declined to four trains a day plus a Halwill to Launceston short return journey.
Motive power in later years had been the T9 4-4-0 Greyhounds and the N class 2-6-0s but with Bulleid Pacifics, often on uneconomically short trains, putting in an appearance.