- Lydford railway station
Lydford railway station was a junction at
Lydford between theGreat Western Railway (GWR) andLondon and South Western Railway (LSWR) situated in a remote part of north-westDartmoor inDevon ,England .History
The station, known then as "Lidford", was opened on
1 June 1865 with theLaunceston and South Devon Railway , a RailGauge|84broad gauge line that connected with theSouth Devon and Tavistock Railway to offer a service toPlymouth Millbay railway station . This line eventually became a part of the GWR. [cite book |last = Anthony |first = GH|coauthors = Jenkins, SC |title = The Launceston Branch |publisher = Oakwood Press |date = 1997 |location = Headington|id = ISBN 0-85361-491-1]On
12 October 1874 the LSWR line was opened fromOkehampton railway station . This was a RailGauge|ussgstandard gauge line that carried trains direct fromLondon Waterloo station , whereas passengers to the GWR'sLondon Paddington station had to travel on the branch line to Plymouth and then change onto a main line train.On
17 May 1876 a junction was opened between the two lines and LSWR trains could now reach its new station at Devonport by running over the GWR's route, which was now mixed gauge. On1 June 1890 a new line, built by thePlymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway , gave the LSWR a route to Devonport independent of the GWR. The GWR line was converted to standard gauge on20 May 1892 .The connection between the two lines was removed in 1895 but was replaced in 1943 to give flexibility should the railway lines around Plymouth be damaged by
World War 2 bombing. Other connections were installed atLaunceston railway station and at St Budeaux.The station had been renamed "Lydford" on
3 June 1897 . Trains were withdrawn from the former GWR branch on31 December 1962 but continued on the main line until6 May 1968 . Goods traffic ceased on7 September 1964 .Description
The original station had a passing loop and two platforms, with the station offices on the platform used by trains towards Plymouth. The LSWR built their platforms alongside the original ones, so the original booking office became a waiting room on an island platform with both companies opening new offices on their respective outside platforms. [cite book |last = Oakley |first = Mike |title = Devon Railway Stations |publisher = The Dovecote Press |date = 2007 |location = Wimbourne|id = ISBN 978-1-904-34955-6]
From
1 March 1914 the LSWR took responsibility for the GWR platforms. The GWRsignal box was closed on8 January 1917 , when signal controls were combined in a single box on the central platform with two lever frames – one for each line – placed back to back. The signalman had trains from Tavistock on his left when working the GWR frame, but on his right when working the LSWR one.Goods traffic was handled in a yard at the north end of the station between the two lines with access from both.
Image gallery
References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.