Plymouth railway station serves the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. It is situated on the northern edge of the city centre close to the North Cross roundabout. It has the largest number of passengers starting and finishing their journeys at any station in the county, and is the largest of the six surviving railway stations in the city, being the only one served by InterCity trains.
Originally named Plymouth North Road, it was opened in 1877 as a joint station for the Great Western Railway (GWR) and the London and South Western Railway (LSWR). It was expanded in 1908 but a major rebuilding scheme that started in 1938 was delayed by the Second World War and was not completed until 1962. John Betjeman commented unfavourably on its new form in his introduction to The Book of the Great Western:
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- Plymouth (North Road) dullest of stations and no less dull now it has been rebuilt in copybook contemporary.
It is currently operated by First Great Western, being located on their Exeter to Plymouth line 225.75 miles (363 km) from London Paddington station, but also sees trains operated by CrossCountry. The Panel Signal Box at the station controls all trains between (but not at) Totnes in Devon, and Liskeard in Cornwall.
Read more about Plymouth Railway Station: History, Signalling, Description, Services, Passenger Volume, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words plymouth, railway and/or station:
“In clear weather the laziest may look across the Bay as far as Plymouth at a glance, or over the Atlantic as far as human vision reaches, merely raising his eyelids; or if he is too lazy to look after all, he can hardly help hearing the ceaseless dash and roar of the breakers. The restless ocean may at any moment cast up a whale or a wrecked vessel at your feet. All the reporters in the world, the most rapid stenographers, could not report the news it brings.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“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)
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—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)