Perranwell railway station

Infobox UK station
name = Perranwell


caption = Looking towards Falmouth
manager = First Great Western
locale = Perranwell
borough = Carrick, Cornwall
latitude = 50.21598
longitude = -5.12270
code = PRW
original = Cornwall Railway
pregroup = Great Western Railway
postgroup = Great Western Railway
years = 'Perran' opened
events = 1864
years1 = Renamed 'Perranwell'
events1 = 1864
platforms = 1
lowusage0203 = 11,110
lowusage0405 = 9,936
lowusage0506 = 9,545
lowusage0607 = 10,489

Penrranwell station is on the Maritime Line from Truro to Falmouth Docks, the services are operated by First Great Western.

There is just one platform with level access from the car park. Trains towards Truro run from left to right; trains towards Falmouth Docks run from right to left.

History

The station was opened with the Cornwall Railway Falmouth extension on 24 August 1863. It was called Perran until it was renamed Perranwell on 19 February 1864 to avoid confusion with nearby Penryn.

The Cornwall Railway was amalgamated into the Great Western Railway on 1 July 1889. The Great Western Railway was nationalised into British Railways from 1 January 1948 which was in privatised in the 1990s.

The goods shed still stands in the forecourt despite goods traffic ceasing on 4 January 1965. A dry drinking fountain can be seen on the platform, a reminder of more important days. The signal box here was very distinctive, being sited on girders above the track alongside the goods shed.

A short distance on either side of the station, valleys had to be crossed on lofty timber viaducts. To the north, the 11 piers of the Carnon Viaduct crossed 96 feet above the Carnon valley and the Redruth and Chasewater Railway. In the other direction, trains crossed the smaller Perran Viaduct (56 feet high, 339 feet long).

In the 1980s the station had become run down with only a small aluminium shelter with polycarbonate panels offering protection for passengers. However, during the late 1990s a new brick waiting shelter was built as part of a refurbishment programme at all the "Maritime Line" stations.

References

*The records of the Cornwall Railway can be consulted at The National Archives at Kew.
*"The Great Western Railway in Mid Cornwall", Alan Bennett, Kingfisher Railway Publications, Southampton 1988. ISBN 0-946184-53-4

External links

* [http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~owend/interests/rail/stnpages/perranwell.html British Railway Stations - Perranwell]
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