The Cornwall Railway Arrives
The Cornwall Railway was constructed to connect Plymouth and Falmouth, through Truro, as a broad gauge line. It opened from Plymouth as far as a new, more conveniently located station in Truro on the northern margin of the city in May 1859.
Pursuing the object of reaching Falmouth, it constructed a line westward, involving a short tunnel, as far as the dormant West Cornwall station at Truro Road. It laid a single line of narrow gauge rails from its own station to make an end-on connection with the West Cornwall line, enabling West Cornwall trains to reach the Cornwall Railway station. This was opened in August 1860, enabling for the first time rail travel throughout from Penzance to London, but with a break of gauge at Truro. (This required passengers to change trains, and goods had to be physically transshipped into different wagons.)
From that time most West Cornwall passenger trains used the Cornwall Railway station, but the first westbound and last eastbound train of the day continued to use Newham until November 1863. From that time all passenger trains used the Cornwall Railway station, and Newham became a goods station.
The Cornwall Railway continued its construction towards Falmouth, and opened that line on 24 August 1863. This included an independent track from its Truro station paralleling its narrow gauge track to the West Cornwall, and diverging at Higher Town. Its broad gauge line crossed the West Cornwall's narrow gauge Newham branch on the level; the junction was known as Penwithers Junction.
A contemporary engineer's report stated that "an extensive system of signal mechanism has been erected" at the crossing, indicating that a signal interlocking was installed there; this was the first west of Exeter if not Bristol, according to MacDermot.
The topography at Penwithers Junction clearly shows that earthworks for an east curve were formed. This would have allowed through running from Newham towards the Cornwall Railway station at Truro. MacDermot states that this was formed at this time by the West Cornwall company, but that it was never completed.
Read more about this topic: West Cornwall Railway
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