Lostwithiel railway station

Lostwithiel railway station (Cornish: Lostwydhyel) serves the town of Lostwithiel in Cornwall, England. It is 277 miles 36 chains (277.45 mi; 446.5 km) from the zero point at London Paddington measured via Box and Plymouth Millbay.^[1] Great Western Railway operates the station along with every other station in Cornwall.

Lostwithiel Lostwydhyel
General information
Location	Lostwithiel, Cornwall England
Coordinates	50.40700°N 4.66577°W / 50.40700; -4.66577
Grid reference	SX106597
Managed by	Great Western Railway
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	LOS
Classification	DfT category F1
History
Original company	Cornwall Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Western Railway
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway
Key dates
1859	Opened
1869	Fowey branch opened
1880	Fowey branch closed
1895	Fowey branch reopened
1965	Fowey branch closed to passengers
2024	Signal box closed.
Passengers
2018/19	66,624
2019/20	67,706
2020/21	24,142
2021/22	61,534
2022/23	72,356
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

The station is on the banks of the River Fowey in Cornwall. At the east end of the station is a level crossing while at the west end the line is carried over the river, beyond which is the junction for the Fowey branch which is now used by china clay trains only. Between the station and the river stand the remains of the Cornwall Railway workshops, converted and extended in 2004 as a housing development.

Lostwithiel's famous medieval bridge is just outside the station, with the town on the opposite bank of the river.

History

The station opened with the Cornwall Railway on 4 May 1859. A report at the time claimed that it

"is generally admitted to be the handsomest station on the line, and looks as gay and bright as fresh paint can make it. It consists, first, of a departure station, a wooden building covered by rusticated boarding, having a projecting verandah, extending eight feet on each side of the carriage approaches, and extending over the railway platform. This contains a spacious first class waiting room, second class ditto, ticket, and other necessary offices, and conveniences. Immediately opposite to this, is the arrival station, which is also of wooden erection, having spacious waiting rooms, and porter and lamp rooms. The roof also projects over the platform in a similar way to that of the departure station. A short distance lower down the line is a convenient goods shed, 75 feet long by 42 feet span of roof. Near to the departure station is the train shed, 100 feet long, in which, in addition to the engines employed on the line, it is intended to contain first, second, and third class carriages, in order to meet any extra requirements that may at any time arise."^[2]

The workshops had been established during the construction of the railway to prepare the timber needed for the wooden viaducts, stations and track. It expanded to also maintain the carriages and wagons of the railway and was retained for some years by the Great Western Railway when the two companies amalgamated on 1 July 1889.^[3]

The Lostwithiel and Fowey Railway opened for goods traffic on 1 June 1869 from a junction at the west end of Lostwithiel station. A more direct route from Par to Fowey stole most of the traffic and the trains from Lostwithiel were suspended from 1 January 1880. The Cornwall Railway subsequently leased a part of the line to store rolling stock. The line was reopened by the Cornwall Minerals Railway on 16 September 1895 for both goods and passengers when a bay platform was provided at Lostwithiel. The passenger service was withdrawn on 4 January 1965 but the line remains open to carry china clay to the jetties at Fowey.^[4]

Sidings on the east side of the level crossing came into use on 30 April 1932 to handle milk train traffic from a new Nestle milk factory. It was later sold to Cow & Gate.

The Great Western Railway was nationalised into British Railways from 1 January 1948 which in turn was privatised in the 1990s. British Railways demolished the original station buildings in 1976 (down side) and 1981 (up side). The smaller down side building was moved to the Plym Valley Railway while the larger up side building was taken to St Agnes but was never rebuilt there.^[4] New functional buildings were built at Lostwithiel to replace them and opened on 18 November 1982.^[4][5]

Description

The main entrance is on the platform served by trains to Plymouth, this is the platform nearest the town. A second platform for trains to Penzance is reached from the level crossing. The opposite face of this platform used to be served by trains on the Fowey branch line.

Lostwithiel signal box is situated at the northern end of Platform 1. It is listed Grade II^[6] but it will closed and its semaphore signals be replaced during 2023-24 with new electric signals installed and controlled from Exeter.^[7]

Services

Class 802 at Lostwithiel with a service to Penzance

Trains are operated by Great Western Railway and call once or two times each hour towards both Plymouth and Penzance, many continuing beyond Plymouth to Cardiff Central or London Paddington.^[8]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Par		Great Western Railway (Cornish Main Line)		Bodmin Parkway

References

• Cornwall portal

1. Padgett, David (June 2018) [1989]. Munsey, Myles (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 3: Western & Wales (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. map 10B. ISBN 978-1-9996271-0-2.
2. West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser, Railway Special Edition, 1859
3. Bennett, Alan (1988). The Great Western Railway in Mid Cornwall. Southampton: Kingfisher Railway Publications. ISBN 0-946184-53-4.
4. Oakley, Mike (2009). Cornwall Railway Stations. The Dovecote Press. pp. 68–69. ISBN 978-1-904-34968-6.
5. Beacham, Peter; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2014). The Buildings of England. Cornwall. Yale University Press. p. 327. ISBN 9780300126686.
6. "Lostwithiel Signal Box". Historic England. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
7. "Cornish resignalling gears up". Modern Railways. No. October. 2023. p. 27.
8. "K1 train times". Great Western Railway. Retrieved 11 August 2023.