St Austell railway station
General information | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Location | St Austell, Cornwall England | ||||
Coordinates | 50°20′23″N 4°47′25″W / 50.3397°N 4.79028°W | ||||
Grid reference | SX016525 | ||||
Managed by | Great Western Railway | ||||
Platforms | 2 | ||||
Other information | |||||
Station code | SAU | ||||
Classification | DfT category C2 | ||||
History | |||||
Original company | Cornwall Railway | ||||
Pre-grouping | Great Western Railway | ||||
Post-grouping | Great Western Railway | ||||
Key dates | |||||
1859 | Opened | ||||
1931 | Level crossing closed | ||||
2001 | Main building rebuilt | ||||
Passengers | |||||
2018/19 | ![]() | ||||
2019/20 | ![]() | ||||
2020/21 | ![]() | ||||
2021/22 | ![]() | ||||
2022/23 | ![]() | ||||
Listed Building – Grade II | |||||
Feature | St Austell Railway Station and Footbridge | ||||
Designated | 29 May 1988 | ||||
Reference no. | 1268442[1] | ||||
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St Austell station is a
The station is situated on the hillside just above the town. The main buildings were rebuilt in 2001 and face the town's bus station.
The station is served by both local and long-distance trains, including the Night Riviera sleeper service.[3]
History
St Austell opened with the Cornwall Railway on 4 May 1859.[4] A report when the station opened stated that
the departure station is an ornamental wooden structure, having projecting verandahs at each side, waiting room, ticket office, &c., similar to the corresponding building at Lostwithiel. Nearly opposite is the arrival station, which is built of stone, with projecting verandah over the platform and having convenient waiting, porters', and lamp rooms. To the south of this is the goods shed, a stone building of the same dimensions as the goods shed at Lostwithiel, and the provision has been made here, for the accommodation of the heavy goods traffic that is anticipated from the district. Amongst other arrangements adopted, with the view of preventing collisions and inconvenience, it has been determined that the passenger traffic shall pass to the station through a street in front of the post office, and the goods traffic by Menacuddle Hill, in front of the Town Hall.[5]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/1999_at_St_Austell_station_-_down_side_building.jpg/220px-1999_at_St_Austell_station_-_down_side_building.jpg)
The
A large warehouse was added on the town side of the line in 1862 (where
As well as the general traffic for a busy town, the station handled large volumes of china clay from the surrounding district, and of fish from Mevagissey. The steep hill from the town to the station caused problems for the horses hauling heavy wagons.
The Cornwall Railway was amalgamated into the
A listed GWR covered footbridge which dated from 1882 linked the platforms[1] but was superseded by an accessible bridge in 2015. The old bridge remained in place but out of use until February 2019 when it was given to the Helston Railway by Network Rail.[8]
Preceding station | Historical railways | Following station | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Par | Great Western Railway | Burngullow
|
Stationmasters
- Joseph Hall Coggins ca. 1861 - 1862
- John Hussey 1862 - 1863
- Mr Hocking 1863-1864 (formerley at Lostwithiel, transferred to Falmouth}
- Mr Holt from 1864
- Robert Pearce until 1871
- John Brewer 1871 - 1886[9] (afterwards station master at Truro)
- Daniel Bailey 1886 - 1904[10] (formerly station master at Bodmin Road, afterwards station master at Plymouth)
- Thomas Cobourne 1904 - 1916[11]
- A. Gilpin 1916[12]
- Daniel Silvester 1917 - 1922[13] (formerly station master at Liskeard)
- A.F. Davey 1922 - 1940[14]
- Frank Trewin 1941 - ca. 1947
- S.H. Woodward from 1950[15] (formerly station master at Moreton)
- R.J. Cox 1954 - 1955
- J.W. Tett 1956 - 1957 (afterwards station master at Par)
Facilities
The main building is on the south side of the line, nearest the town centre and facing the bus station. It was built in 2001 to a design by Lacie Hickie Caley[16] and contains a booking office and shop. The wooden building on this platform dates from Great Western Railway days. The station car park is situated behind this platform. An accessible footbridge links the two platforms.
At the east end of the platform is a road bridge carrying Carlyon Road over the line and beyond this is a small cutting which is spanned by a footbridge. The original bridge survived for almost 150 years; it was extended when the extra line was laid in 1931 to the new goods yard, but both sections have now been replaced by Network Rail's prototype modular fibre reinforced polymer footbridge.[17]
Platform layout
The south side is Platform 1, which is used by trains from London Paddington and Plymouth towards Truro and Penzance.
Platform 2 is used by trains towards Exeter St Davids, London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads.
Passenger volume
St Austell is the fourth busiest station in Cornwall after Truro, Penzance and St Ives. Comparing the year April 2011 to March 2012 with that which started in April 2002, passenger numbers increased by 75%.[18]
2002-03 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Entries | 132,408 | 136,333 | 138,787 | 156,885 | 181,063 | 220,504 | 197,611 | 218,220 | 233,355 |
Exits | 134,268 | 138,724 | 142,758 | 157,728 | 179,421 | 220,504 | 197,611 | 218,220 | 233,355 |
Total | 266,676 | 275,056 | 281,545 | 314,613 | 360,484 | 441,008 | 395,222 | 436,440 | 466,710 |
The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.
Services
St Austell is served by all Great Western Railway trains on the Cornish Main Line between Penzance and Plymouth with two trains per hour in each direction. Some trains run through to or from London Paddington station via Exeter St Davids, including the Night Riviera overnight sleeping car service.
There are a limited number of
Preceding station | ![]() |
Following station | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Truro | Great Western Railway Cornish Main Line |
Par | ||
CrossCountry Cornish Main Line |
Signalling
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/db/2009_at_St_Austell_station_-_signal_box.jpg/220px-2009_at_St_Austell_station_-_signal_box.jpg)
St Austell was a passing place from the opening of the Cornwall Railway and rudimentary signalling was provided operated, as was usual at the time, by men who had to walk between the different signals and points, and the level crossing at the west end of the platform. A
The line was doubled towards
The signal box closed on 22 March 1980 when control of trains through the station was transferred to the signal box at Par.
Viaducts
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/St_Austell_viaduct.jpg/220px-St_Austell_viaduct.jpg)
Just to the west of St Austell are two viaducts, both originally built on stone piers with timber tops, they were rebuilt in stone in 1898 - 1899. The first is known as St Austell Viaduct. It is 720 feet long and crosses 115 feet above the Trenance valley. The second is Gover Viaduct, 95 feet high and 690 feet long on 10 piers.[22]
References
- ^ a b c Historic England, "St Austell Railway Station and Footbridge (1268442)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 4 January 2017
- ISBN 978-1-9996271-0-2.
- ^ Table 135 National Rail timetable, May 2016
- ^ Clinker, CR (1963). The Railways of Cornwall 1809 - 1963. Dawlish: David and Charles.
- ^ West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser, Railway Special Edition, 1859
- ^ Records of the Cornwall Railway in The National Archives at Kew
- ISBN 0-946184-53-4.
- ^ "St Austell's Victorian footbridge finds new home at Helston heritage railway". Network Rail Media Centre. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
- ^ "Presentation at St Austell". Royal Cornwall Gazette. England. 5 November 1886. Retrieved 23 September 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "St Austell". West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser. England. 26 February 1903. Retrieved 23 September 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "St Austell's Late Station Master". Cornish Guardian. England. 2 June 1916. Retrieved 23 September 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Stationmaster's Death". West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser. England. 28 December 1916. Retrieved 23 September 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Retirement of St Austell Stationmaster". Cornish Post and Mining News. England. 8 July 1922. Retrieved 23 September 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Long Railway Career". Western Morning News. England. 1 January 1941. Retrieved 23 September 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Station Master's Move". WThe Tewkesbury Register, and Agricultural Gazette. England. 21 October 1950. Retrieved 23 September 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ISBN 9780300126686.
- ISSN 0026-8356.
- ^ "Estimates of station usage". Office of Rail Regulation. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
- ^ Table 51 National Rail timetable, May 2016
- ^ Cooke, RA (1977). Track Layout Diagrams of the GWR and BR WR, Section 11: East Cornwall. Harwell: RA Cooke.
- ISBN 0-9532460-5-1.
- ISBN 0-906899-56-7.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)