Devonport railway station

Devonport National Rail
Location
Place Devonport
Local authority Plymouth
Coordinates 50°22′43″N 4°10′13″W / 50.37849°N 4.17018°W / 50.37849; -4.17018Coordinates: 50°22′43″N 4°10′13″W / 50.37849°N 4.17018°W / 50.37849; -4.17018
Grid reference SX457554
Operations
Station code DPT
Managed by Great Western Railway
Number of platforms 2
DfT category F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11 Increase 27,006
2011/12 Increase 27,756
2012/13 Increase 29,878
2013/14 Increase 31,866
2014/15 Increase 33,968
History
Original company Cornwall Railway
Pre-grouping Great Western Railway
Post-grouping Great Western Railway
1859 opened
1948 Albert Road added to name
1968 Name reverted to Devonport
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Devonport from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Devonport railway station serves the Devonport area of Plymouth, Devon, England. The station is 1.25 miles (2 km) west of Plymouth railway station on the Cornish Main Line. It is operated by Great Western Railway.

History

The station opened with the Cornwall Railway on 4 May 1859. It was described at the time as "built of rubble masonry, in the Italian style of architecture, which style is adopted at all stations on the railway. It consists of an arrival, departure, and goods stations, the two former being stone structures, and the last a wooden erection".[1]

In 1865 the Royal Agricultural Show was held at nearby at Pennycomequick and so the opportunity was taken to enlarge the platforms at Devonport. A "refreshment booth" was also erected for the duration of the show to cater for the large number of visitors expected.

The Cornwall Railway was amalgamated into the Great Western Railway on 1 July 1889.[2] The Great Western Railway was nationalised into British Railways from 1 January 1948 which was in turn privatised in the 1990s.

For a while after 1948 the station was known as Devonport Albert Road to distinguish it from the ex-London and South Western Railway Kings Road station (now the site of the City College Plymouth). The name reverted to just "Devonport" from 6 May 1968.

The goods shed was originally situated in front of the station near the tunnel entrance, but a new goods yard was opened in about 1892 on a larger site east of the station. This was accessed beneath a girder bridge that carried Valletort Road. The old goods shed and sidings were removed in 1903 and replaced by new sidings which handled milk traffic until 1957.

Valletort Road goods depot was closed in April 1957 and was then used for about forty years by the railway civil engineers.[3] The station became unstaffed from 19 May 1969.[4]

Signalling

The station was initially controlled by disc-and-crossbar signals controlled locally. The first signal box opened on 9 November 1877, a 20-lever box with semaphore signals, but it was extended in about 1892 to 29 levers to accommodate the new goods yard at Valletort Road.[5]

The signal box was replaced by a new one in October 1899 when the line was doubled to Keyham. It closed on 26 November 1960 since when multiple-aspect signals have been controlled by the panel signal box at Plymouth railway station.

Description

The station is in a cutting at the top of an incline which climbs up from Plymouth. Immediately to the west of the station the line curves sharply to the right and enters a short tunnel.

The entrance is on the platform served by trains to Gunnislake and Saltash. The second platform that is served by trains to Plymouth is reached by a footbridge.

To walk to Devonport, turn right out of the station, right again over the tunnel. On reaching the main road the shops and Dockyard are down the hill to your left. Torpoint Ferry can be reached by turning left out of the station and then following the park down the hill. To walk to Stoke, turn left out of the station and at the main road turn left again.

Services

A main line train passing through

Devonport is served by Tamar Valley Line services from Plymouth to Gunnislake,[6]and also by certain trains on the Cornish Main Line to and from Penzance, some of which continue eastwards beyond Plymouth towards Exeter St Davids.[7]

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Dockyard   Great Western Railway
Tamar Valley Line		   Plymouth
  Great Western Railway
Cornish Main Line		  

Community railway

The railway from Plymouth to Gunnislake is designated as a community railway and is supported by marketing provided by the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership. The line is promoted under the "Tamar Valley Line" name.

The Lounge pub near Devonport station takes part in the Tamar Valley Line rail ale trail, which is designed to promote the use of the line. The line is also part of the Dartmoor Sunday Rover network of integrated bus and rail routes.

See also

References

  1. ↑ West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser, Railway Special Edition, 1859
  2. ↑ MacDermot, E T (1931). History of the Great Western Railway, volume II 1863-1921. London: Great Western Railway.
  3. ↑ Cooke, R A (1979). Track Layout Diagrams of the GWR and BR WR: Section 12, Plymouth. Harwell: R A Cooke.
  4. ↑ Oakley, Mike (2007). Devon Railway Stations. Wimbourne: The Dovecote Press. ISBN 978-1-904349-55-6.
  5. ↑ Crozier, Larry (2000). Mechanical Signalling in Plymouth. Wallasey: Signalling Record Society. ISBN 1-873228-18-X.
  6. ↑ Table 139 National Rail timetable, May 2016
  7. ↑ Table 51 & 135 National Rail timetable, May 2016

Further reading

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