Millbay Level Crossing
Clive Smith
Clive Smith
Millbay Level Crossing, looking away from the docks towards the bank which led up past Millbay station. 1982. Copyright Clive Smith
An undated shot I took of the disused level crossing gate at Millbay Road in Plymouth . This was on the line that used to run behind Millbay station down an incline to the docks. I think the year was 1982 as temporary inflatable exhibition domes can be seen in the background on the site of what was Millbay Station and is now the Plymouth Pavilions entertainment and sports complex. For some unknown reason the gates escaped the demolition of the station in the mid 1970s and remained in situ for a few years after this photo. Keith and Roger have some excellent photos of the gates from 1972 and 74 in the archive section.
Plymouth historian Chris Robinson has a superb article on Millbay station on the following link -
https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/history/plymouths-first-railway-station-last-1352958
Last week the hideous pedestrianised bridge that crossed Union Street where the railway bridge used to stand was taken down and plans are afoot to demolish the equally ugly Toys 'R' Us store where the signal box and tracks into Millbay used to be. Another excellent article from the Plymouth Herald shows what used to be - https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/history/before-plymouths-toys-r-built-878632
Finally a fascinating and detailed piece of research on the station by historian Brian Moseley can be found on this link - http://www.oldplymouth.uk/Railways-Plymouth%20Station%20(Millbay).htm
Regards, Clive Smith
Many thanks Clive for your photo and also for the links - they make very interesting viewing.
N.B. If you'd like a quick link at more of our websites pictures on Millbay please click here.
Plymouth historian Chris Robinson has a superb article on Millbay station on the following link -
https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/history/plymouths-first-railway-station-last-1352958
Last week the hideous pedestrianised bridge that crossed Union Street where the railway bridge used to stand was taken down and plans are afoot to demolish the equally ugly Toys 'R' Us store where the signal box and tracks into Millbay used to be. Another excellent article from the Plymouth Herald shows what used to be - https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/history/before-plymouths-toys-r-built-878632
Finally a fascinating and detailed piece of research on the station by historian Brian Moseley can be found on this link - http://www.oldplymouth.uk/Railways-Plymouth%20Station%20(Millbay).htm
Regards, Clive Smith
Many thanks Clive for your photo and also for the links - they make very interesting viewing.
N.B. If you'd like a quick link at more of our websites pictures on Millbay please click here.
Millbay level crossing on the 18th September 1959. 7813 Freshford Manor & 5028 Llantillo Castle get to grips with the 8.45am boat train from Millbay Docks to Paddington, conveying passengers and mail from the French trans-atlantic liner 'Liberte'. The ship continued to call at Plymouth for a further two years, but made her last trans-atlantic voyage in November 1961, calling at Plymouth on 16 November. This would end Plymouth's association with trans-atlantic travel. The ship was scrapped after this voyage. [with thanks to the book "Plymouth - Ocean Liner Port-of-Call" by Alan Kittridge] Copyright Mike Roach
A shot of Millbay Level Crossing Gates taken on the 23rd February 1974 Copyright Roger Winnen. Note the Millbay Terminus building on the right hand side. The differing levels of the crossing gates illustrating the slope of the road gradient at this location.
Halwill/Holsworthy
Colin Burges
Colin Burges
Colin writes :- When I first went to Halwill, the station was much as it was when Roger photographed it in 1973.
A pal of mine had been a relief clerk and he would tell tall tales about life in the final years of the lines west of Okehampton, at whose stations he was often posted.
He said that as booking clerk at Halwill he would date the few tickets he was likely to sell and go and sit in the window seat at the Junction Hotel by the level crossing, where he could call out to anyone entering the booking office. I bought a drink and sat there; this story at least was plausible. The one about the train stopping short in the dark at Holsworthy and the old gentleman mistaking the parapet of the viaduct for the platform everyone would laugh at, surely without believing it, because the picture of someone standing with his case in such a perilous position was so absurd.
According to Railfuture, "Halwill Junction and Holsworthy are fortunate to have retained a bus service close to being a true rail replacement service." When I last caught the X9 from Okehampton to Bude, some years ago, the driver dutifully pulled off the main road, turned round where the station had been and rejoined the road, without picking up or setting down a soul!
Many thanks Colin for your letter and pictures.
A pal of mine had been a relief clerk and he would tell tall tales about life in the final years of the lines west of Okehampton, at whose stations he was often posted.
He said that as booking clerk at Halwill he would date the few tickets he was likely to sell and go and sit in the window seat at the Junction Hotel by the level crossing, where he could call out to anyone entering the booking office. I bought a drink and sat there; this story at least was plausible. The one about the train stopping short in the dark at Holsworthy and the old gentleman mistaking the parapet of the viaduct for the platform everyone would laugh at, surely without believing it, because the picture of someone standing with his case in such a perilous position was so absurd.
According to Railfuture, "Halwill Junction and Holsworthy are fortunate to have retained a bus service close to being a true rail replacement service." When I last caught the X9 from Okehampton to Bude, some years ago, the driver dutifully pulled off the main road, turned round where the station had been and rejoined the road, without picking up or setting down a soul!
Many thanks Colin for your letter and pictures.
Holsworthy station in August 1991. Now the site of a Waitrose Car Park. Copyright Colin Burges.
Holsworth station from the trackbed. August 1991. Copyright Colin Burges
Holsworthy Viaduct east of the station. August 1991 Copyright Colin Burges.
Stranded passenger at Burngullow
My Father told me, which I believe to be a true, a tale of a passenger stranded at Burngullow. It was during the war years, trains were slow and stations unlit. A gentleman on an up service expecting the next stop to be St Austell got out when the train stopped (Presumably for a signal check) at Burngullow. Quite how he got on to his intended station is not known! One could have said "Oh for on board announcements, central locking and well lit stations" but that was nearly 50 years ahead!!
KJ N.B. Burngullow closed on the 14th September 1931 so would have been minus its nameboards anyway.
My Father told me, which I believe to be a true, a tale of a passenger stranded at Burngullow. It was during the war years, trains were slow and stations unlit. A gentleman on an up service expecting the next stop to be St Austell got out when the train stopped (Presumably for a signal check) at Burngullow. Quite how he got on to his intended station is not known! One could have said "Oh for on board announcements, central locking and well lit stations" but that was nearly 50 years ahead!!
KJ N.B. Burngullow closed on the 14th September 1931 so would have been minus its nameboards anyway.