The Cornwall Railway was a broad gauge (7 ft 0 1⁄4 in (2,140 mm)) railway from Plymouth in Devon to Falmouth in Cornwall, England, built in the second half of the nineteenth century. It was constantly beset with shortage of capital for the construction, and was eventually forced to sell its line to the dominant Great Western Railway.
It was famous for building the majestic Royal Albert Bridge over the River Tamar, and because of the difficult terrain it traversed, it had a large number of viaducts; because of the shortage of money these were built as timber trestle viaducts, proving to be iconic images but a source of heavy maintenance costs, eventually needing to be reconstructed in more durable materials.
Its main line was the key route to the holiday destinations of Cornwall, and in the first half of the twentieth century it carried holidaymakers in summer, as well as vegetables, fish and cut flowers from Cornwall to markets in London and elsewhere in England. The section from Truro to Falmouth, originally part of its main line, never fulfilled its potential and soon became a branch line. Nonetheless the entire route (with some minor modifications) remains open, forming part of the Cornish Main Line from Plymouth to Penzance, with the Truro to Falmouth branch continuing as the Maritime Line.
Read more about Cornwall Railway: Floating The Company, Construction Starts, Opening At Last, Extension To Falmouth But Loss of Control, Income Creeps Up But Expenditure Accelerates, Now Part of The Great Western Railway, Remaining Cornwall Railway Structures, Stations
Famous quotes containing the word railway:
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)