The branch line from Liskeard to Looe was perhaps the most unlikely survivor of the "Beeching Axe" in the 1960s. It survived by the narrowest of squeaks, being reprieved just a fortnight before it was due to shut by Secretary of State for Transport Barbara Castle. She cited the inadequacy of of local roads to cope with holiday makers in the summer peaks, and the huge expense that would have been involved to improve them for that traffic. And so the Looe branch survives in what almost feels like a time capsule - "lost in time". Some things are not lost in time though - I took a trip on the branch last Thursday, and even off season (mid March) many of the trains are no longer "carrying fresh air" - a good number of passengers about, and that on a service that has been increased in recent years to run once an hour. No longer just a survivor - but now a health line with passenger numbers that would make some others cry, and a quirky survivor.
Heading south from Liskeard to Looe? You join the Looe trains at "Platform 3" - slightly away from the main line platforms on the north side, and pointed in a north easterly direction. And as the train starts its journey, it turns right, and right again and again, and descends into a valley in which it passes under the main line railway you probably used to arrive in Liskeard. You're now headed south, but not for long as the train turns right, right, and right again still descending into a deeper valley. Another single track line comes in alongside on your - its come along the valley floor - and you join that line and pull up, facing north again.
The driver walks through the train, and then you move again - though this time in the opposite direction and onto the line that joined from the valley. One further stop, just clear of the junction points, and a minute later we're headed off towards Looe. It may be "none-stop" or we may call at St Keyne Wishing Well, and/or Causeland, and/or Sandplace. It will never really be none-stop, for there's a level crossing along the way where all trains must stop and blow their horns before proceeding.
And so the wooded valley with the rushing stream widens out, into an estuary with - if the tide is right - mudflat teaming with waders. The waterway widens, habitation and indeed a town appear on the hillside opposite, the trains slows down and pulls to a halt and we're in Looe - or rather on its north flank - at a tiny station that just holds our two carriages.
Our trainload pile off, another load pile on, and within 5 minutes the train is headed back whence it came - or almost. On this particular journey, once we got clear of the junction points, the driver did not walk through the train. Rather, after a brief pause to pick up his crew member he carried on a few hundred yards to the remote station of Coombe Junction Halt, where I left the train; the train departed a couple of minutes later, headed south again but to turn left, left and left, to climb and turn left and left again and climb some more back to its platform at Liskeard. I was left looking ahead at rusty rails, a little road bridge quite close by and a high railway viaduct a little further away, where e the rusty tracks pass under up to the cement works at Moorswater, and original station for Liskeard on this railway - which use to carry on up to the moors to the stone quarries, but that section was lost many generations ago.
And so, my personal trip ended with a walk back up the hill to Liskeard Station - about 20 minutes along a lane that lead into the suburbs and to the station, with a "Steep Hill - 16%" sign. And I could certainly see and feel the hill - final proof (not that I needed it) of just how much the Looe line drops away in the first part of its run.
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