Provisional data - please, experts on Cornwall, post follow ups which I will write in to a final thread. It's when I try and write something like this I realise how much there is to say and how little I know!In due course, this thread and another / others for the branches will replace
http://www.passenger.chat/1740 as the board's pinned post - an excellent piece of work by Phil, but now 10 years old.
NameCornish Main Line
DescriptionFrom Plymouth (in Devon) entering Cornwall at Saltash, via Liskeard, Bodmin Parkway, St Austell, Truro, Redruth and Camborne to Penzance. Double track most of the way, with single line stretches between St Budeaux and Saltash, Liskeard and Bodmin Parkway (Largin), and St Erth and Penzance.
Branches with passenger service from St Budeaux to Gunnislake (but trains start back at Plymouth), Liskeard to Looe, Par to Newquay, Truro to Falmouth and St Erth to St Ives.
Notable Engineering features and architectureThe line is heavily engineered for most of its route as it twists and turns, rises and falls and crosses viaducts and causeways across the valleys of Cornwall. Most impressive of all is the Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash where the line crosses into Cornwall.
Notable Railway FacilitiesLaira (Near Plymouth)
St Blazey (near Par)
Longrock (near Penzance)
ServiceTrains run about every 30 minutes along the whole Cornish Main Line, with alternate trains calling at nearly all stations and semi-fast. About every 2 hours, a train originates from London Paddington, with other trains from the North East of England and Scotland. Other trains start from Cardiff, Bristol, Exeter St Davids or Plymouth.
6 nights a week (not Saturday night), a sleeper train runs from London to Penzance, calling at Cornish stations only to drop people off. In the reverse direction, it's pick u0 only through Cornwall - the first place you can get off is Totnes.
With very few exceptions, services run the entire length of the Cornish Main Line - daily exceptions being trains early or late in the day to get trains into place to work the branches, and a peak local service from Plymouth to Liskeard. In the summer,
GWR▸ run a though train from London to Newquay which turns off the main line at Par, and on summer Saturdays, Cross Country also run through to Newquay. These Newquay trains are the final remnants of what used to be an extensive set of Summer Saturday trains to holiday destinations all across the South West from London, the Midlands and the North of England.
Rolling stock usedLondon trains are now in the hands of class 802
IET▸ (Intercity Express Trains) which most commonly run through Cornwall as 5 carriages, leaving / joining up to a further 5 carriage set at Plymouth for the London run. Due to the nature of the line, these trains cannot reach their top speeds in Cornwall.
Trains to and from the North East and Scotland (via Birmingham) are run by Cross Country Trains using Class 220 and 221 Voyagers of 4 or 5 carriages. Occasionally, a High Speed Train (InterCity 125) will appear on one of these services.
Many of the more local services are run by class 255 Castle trains - repurposed retired High Speed Trains reduced to 4 passenger carriages with a class 43 locomotive on each end, and with refurbished carriages with automatic doors and accessible toilets. The rest of the local services are run with 2 car class 158 (regional express) and class 150/2 (local service) trains, often running in pairs - sometimes a 158 coupled to a 150.
The sleeper trains are hauled by class 57 locomotives with refurbished sleeper carriages and some seating too.
Main passenger flowsLong distance traffic via Plymouth
School traffic into Plymouth
Major traffic in / out of Truro and St Austell
Ticket and fare dataPart time season tickets
Devon and Cornwall rail cards
Ride Cornwall
Fares generally good value (in terms of pence per mile)
Strong Advanced ticket market
Catering and facilitiesMany stations have catering facilities, independent run for the most part and with varying opening hours and seasons.
Current issuesPlannedThe half hourly main line service is a very recent innovation - only completed in December 2019; prior to that, there were service gaps of up to 80 minutes on the main line. So we are now into a phase of traffic growth rather than service improvement plans.
Likewise, recent times have seen rolling stock changes - IETs replacing
HSTs▸ on London services, and 158s and Castles replacing and supplementing other trains such as class 150/1 and 153 which are no longer with GWR. Although GWR still operates 2 class 150/0 trains (for 2 more weeks as I write this) and 6 class 143 trains (for another few months), they are unlikely to appear again wast of Plymouth.
AspirationsThe Castle class were taken on board as something of a "stop gap", and class 150/2 and even class 158 are now getting a bit mature. The sleeper, it is noted, had a refresh and was not replaced and the service is not known for its reliability. Replacements may come for these, but not in the immediate future.
An earlier Monday to Friday service on the Newquay branch is sought - this may indeed be more "planned" than an aspiration
A return of passenger services to the Fowey branch (from Lostwithiel) and regular (for general use of the area) services from Bodmin Parkway to Bodmin General over heritage railway tracks are sought, as is a link to (re)connect the line from St Austell to the Newquay branch at Goonbarrow; the junction at Par (not a big place) means that the Newquay line really doesn't take people from Newquay directly where they want to go.
Station notes and linksCornwall has built itself an excellent reputation for joined up transport, with some excellent bus and park and ride connections - such as buses to the Eden project and the new interchange at St Erth. Buses to Bodmin and Padstow and to Bude (though from across the border in Devon) feature in railway timetables and thinking to a degree that makes others elsewhere in the
UK▸ envious of what's already been achieved ... but more is planned.
Community GroupsCornwall is one of the homes - early advocates - of Community Rail and it remains in the forefront of the movement. The various branches in the Devon and Cornwall
CRP▸ 's fold each have their own unique character and work being done - some of them wouldn't even be there to day if it weren't for the community work.
HistoryThrough passenger trains have run from Plymouth to Penzance since 1867 - the Royal Albert Bridge is dated 1859, but a break of gauge at Truro meant everyone had to change there until the West Cornwall Railway was converted to broad gauge - only to be converted back in 1892 with the rest of the line.
Express steam trains from London, hauled by "King" class to Plymouth, were taken over by lighter "Castle" class for their journeys on through Cornwall, and a flourishing holiday and leisure traffic was encouraged with crack named trains such as the "Cornish Riviera Express", with through carriages to many of the branches,
Western and Warship diesel hydraulics replaced the Kings and Castles from the late 1950s, and those in turn gave way to other locomotives (hydraulics being phased out as none-standard) and then to High Speed Trains which were the standard train for around 40 years.
Local trains ran in the hands on "Prairie" and "Pannier" tanks prior to their replacement by first - and now second - generation diesel multiple units, many of which remain with us to this day. Cornwall did not have a long "love affair" with the Pacer (known as "Skippers" in these parts) as it proved inappropriate for a number of the lines, but we did have class 153 single carriage trains on many of the branches for many years; due to the seasonal nature of much of the traffic, a 153 was perfectly adequate in winter, though to this day staff recall the overcrowding problems when a single 153 turned up on a mainline service.
