Falmouth Docks railway station

Infobox UK station
name = Falmouth Docks


caption = Looking towards Truro
manager = First Great Western
locale = Falmouth
borough = Carrick, Cornwall
latitude = 50.15041
longitude = -5.05581
code = FAL
original = Cornwall Railway
pregroup = Great Western Railway
postgroup = Great Western Railway
years = Opened
events = 1863
years1 = Closed
events1 = 1970
years2 = Reopened
events2 = 1975
platforms = 1
lowusage0203 = 28,461
lowusage0405 = 38,434
lowusage0506 = 47,316
lowusage0607 = 59,542

Falmouth Docks station in Falmouth, Cornwall is the terminus of the Maritime Line to Truro, the services are operated by First Great Western.

It has level access from the car park.

The station is at the south end of the town on the hillside above the docks and near Pendennis Castle and Gyllyngvase Beach.

History

The original Cornwall Railway Act had provided for a terminus at Greenbank, but by the time the line was built the packet ships no longer called there, but the new docks had been constructed to which the railway was diverted. The grand Falmouth Hotel was opened in 1865 just outside the station. The railway, docks and hotel companies shared several directors, the hotel company even leased the refreshment rooms on the station.

The granite station was the terminus of the line, which opened on 24 August 1863. It was 200 feet long and 90 feet wide, the three tracks and two platforms being covered by a roof. As no other stations were provided in the town at the time it was known just as Falmouth station. A large goods shed and a 100 feet long engine shed were both provided just outside the station. A siding ran down to the docks from the end of the platform.

The need to provide accommodation for all the staff were met by building twenty Railway Cottages in four terraces of five dwellings. These are situated just below the station by the entrance to the docks.

The station was opened with the Cornwall Railway Falmouth extension on 24 August 1863. 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 turn privatised in the 1990s.

The station was closed on 7 December 1970 when a new station was opened nearer to the town, but it was subsequently reopened as Falmouth Docks on 5 May 1975 so that passengers now have a choice of three stations in the town.

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/falmouthdocks.html British Railway Stations - Falmouth Docks]
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Swcp
topath=100 yards
anti-nextstation=Falmouth Town ½ mile
clck-nextstation=Penzance 60 miles