Liskeard

Lyskerrys
National Rail
General information
LocationLiskeard, Cornwall
England
Coordinates50°26′49″N 4°28′08″W / 50.447°N 4.469°W / 50.447; -4.469
Grid referenceSX247636
Managed byGreat Western Railway
Platforms3
Other information
Station codeLSK
ClassificationDfT category D
History
Original companyCornwall Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Western Railway
Post-groupingGreat Western Railway
Key dates
1859Opened
1901Looe branch opened
Passengers
2018/19Decrease 0.351 million
 Interchange Decrease 61,982
2019/20Increase 0.359 million
 Interchange Decrease 60,949
2020/21Decrease 0.110 million
 Interchange Decrease 17,144
2021/22Increase 0.295 million
 Interchange Increase 56,052
2022/23Increase 0.310 million
 Interchange Increase 59,301
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road
Liskeard and
Coombe Junction stations
Liskeard and Caradon Railway
 Moorswater
 Liskeard
Cornish Main Line
 Coombe Junction Halt
Coombe Junction
Looe Valley Line

Liskeard railway station (Cornish: Lyskerrys) serves the town of Liskeard in Cornwall, England. The station is approximately 18 miles (29 km) west of Plymouth on the Cornish Main Line and 264 miles 71 chains (426.3 km) from London Paddington via Box and Plymouth Millbay.[1] It is the junction for the Looe Valley Line.[2] The railway station is situated approximately 0.5 miles (0.80 km) south-west of Liskeard town centre.

History

Cornwall Railway

The station opened with the Cornwall Railway on 4 May 1859.[3] It was described at the time as occupying "an elevated position nearly a mile to the south of the town", the main building "stands considerably above the rails, the descent to which is by a long flight of steps, which will be hereafter, we understand, entirely covered in. The building is of stone, having a large verandah projecting over the road. On the opposite side of the line is the arrival station, which is also a stone erection; and to the south of this, is the goods shed, which is a timber structure, having warehouses and offices at the ends".[4]

Traffic at the new station was sufficient to warrant additional goods sidings before the end of the year. There is no evidence that the steps from the booking office were ever covered, instead they were replaced with a slope in 1866.

Looe branch

A railway had run to Looe from Moorswater, in the valley west of Liskeard, since 27 December 1860. On 25 February 1901 the Liskeard and Looe Railway was extended up to the Great Western Railway station, this extension line opening to passengers on 15 May 1901.[5][6]

The Liskeard and Looe Railway arrived at right angles to the main line at a dedicated platform with its own buildings; Liskeard therefore has, in essence, two stations. Trains start their journey by travelling northwards, away from Looe. They swing round towards the south, descend gradients as steep as 1 in 40 to pass below the Liskeard Viaduct, swing back towards the north, and then reverse at Coombe Junction for the remainder of their journey to Looe. In the days of steam locomotives, there was an extended stop at Coombe to enable the locomotive to run around to the front of the train when reversing direction.[7] If someone just missed a train leaving Liskeard for Looe, it was possible to run down the hill to Coombe and pick up the train from there.

A connection in the goods yard allowed goods trains and empty carriages to be exchanged between the main line and the branch. A separate Liskeard Branch signal box was opened with the loop line to control trains going to Coombe Junction. It was closed on 15 March 1964, since when the connection to the main line is operated from a ground frame.

Later history

The Cornwall Railway was amalgamated into the Great Western Railway on 1 July 1889 and the Liskeard and Looe Railway did the same on 1 January 1923. The Great Western Railway was nationalised into British Railways from 1 January 1948 which was then privatised in the 1990s.

The station was modernised in 2004. A brick extension to the original Brunel-designed building was replaced by a light and airy glass structure. This work was entered into annual National Railway Heritage Awards in 2005 and won the Network Rail Partnership Award.

Accidents and incidents

Two unusual accidents have occurred at Liskeard due to its elevated position. No one was hurt in either incident.[6]

In April 1863 a goods train was incorrectly sent into a siding where it collided with some wagons standing there. The impact sent these through the buffer stop and over the edge of the embankment.

On 15 June 1906, five empty carriages ran away from the branch platform during shunting operations. They ran down the gradient to Coombe Junction and along the line to Moorswater where they ran into the shed, knocking down the shed wall.

Stationmasters

  • Sampson Rogers ca. 1861 ca. 1862
  • Joseph H. Coggins until 1871[8] (dismissed after a shunting accident at the station)
  • William H.H. Wright 1871 - 1897[9] (formerly station master at Penryn, afterwards offered position of station master at Truro but unable to take it due to illness)
  • William Francis Shepherd Lewarn 1897[10] - 1909
  • Dan Silvester 1909 - 1917[11] (formerly station master at Helston, afterwards station master at St Austell)
  • A. Charles Foster 1917 - 1919[12] (afterwards station master at Paignton)
  • James R.H. Tucker 1919 - 1925[13] (formerly station master at Lostwithiel)
  • A.T. Harris ca. 1928
  • Frederick Herbert Wherly 1928 - 1941[14] (formerly station master at Par)
  • G.P. Miller 1941[15] - 1953
  • Tom Pickard 1953 - 1963[16]

Location

Looking towards Plymouth from the road bridge. Beyond the replacement footbridge (installed in 2013) the connection to the Looe Branch is on the left and the main line continues straight ahead across Liskeard Viaduct.

The main line platforms flank the double-track line in a deep cutting, which is crossed at high level by a road bridge and at lower level by the station footbridge. At each end of the platforms, the line dips down towards flanking viaducts, the Liskeard viaduct to the east and the Moorswater viaduct to the west. The Isambard Kingdom Brunel-designed booking office is at high level next to the road. A curved glazed canopy overlooking the line was added in 2004 by Robert Allen Architects.[17]

The station retains semaphore signalling worked from a signal box at the Plymouth end of the westbound platform.

Platform layout

There is step-free access to all platforms. Trains to Plymouth and beyond use the northern platform nearest the booking office, those towards Penzance use the southern platform across the footbridge. Trains to Looe leave from a separate terminal platform at a right angles to the main platforms at the eastern end of the northern platform. The Looe platform is separated from the rest of the station by an access road between them, and has its own range of station buildings which were built around 1901 to the designs of John Sansom.[17]

Cross-overs at either end of the main line platforms permit main line trains to reverse at Liskeard, and a sharply curved link line permits freight trains and empty passenger trains to reach the Looe line.

Passenger volume

Platform 3 for trains to Looe at Liskeard

Liskeard is the second busiest (behind Truro) of the Cornish junction stations, with more than ¼ million passengers each year. Comparing the year from April 2007 to that which started in April 2002, passenger numbers increased by 31%.[18]

 2002–032004–052005–062006–072007–082008–092009–102010–112011–12
Entries103,865115,051117,968133,449137,309161,400144,638154,581172,258
Exits106,010117,218119,145134,415136,781161,400144,638154,581172,258
Interchangesunknown32,74531,47938,86836,99738,78342,75449,66067,791
Total209,875265,014268,592306,732311,087361,583332,030358,822412,307

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

A Class 150 at Liskeard going towards Plymouth. The underslung 'gallows' signal allows drivers to see it clearly behind the waiting shelter

Liskeard is served by most Great Western Railway trains on the Cornish Main Line between Penzance and Plymouth.[19] Some trains run through to or from London Paddington including the Night Riviera overnight sleeping car service. The basic service on the Cornish Main Line is one or two trains an hour in each direction (between Penzance and Plymouth), although a few peak period trains start/terminate here at Liskeard.

There are a limited number of CrossCountry trains providing a service to Glasgow Central or Manchester Piccadilly in the morning and returning in the evening.

The Looe Valley Line services run a regular service to Looe but only two each day call at Coombe Junction Halt. There is no Sunday service in the winter.[20]

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Plymouth or
Menheniot		   Great Western Railway
Cornish Main Line		   Bodmin Parkway
Plymouth   CrossCountry  
Terminus   Great Western Railway
Looe Valley Line		   Coombe Junction Halt or
St Keyne Wishing Well Halt or
Looe
  Historical railways  
Menheniot   BR Western Region
Cornish Main Line		   Doublebois
Line open, station closed

Community rail

The railway between Liskeard and Looe is designated as a community rail line. It is supported by marketing provided by the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership and promoted under the "Looe Valley Line" name. The signs on the Looe Valley platform were replaced in 2007 with brown and cream signs in the style used by the Western Region of British Railways in the 1950s and 1960s.

The "Old Stag Inn" (now closed) opposite the station is included in the Looe Valley Line rail ale trail, as is the "White Horse" in the town centre.

References

  1. ↑ Padgett, David (June 2018) [1989]. Munsey, Myles (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 3: Western & Wales (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. map 10A. ISBN 978-1-9996271-0-2.
  2. ↑ Bennett, Alan (1990). The Great Western Railway in East Cornwall. Cheltenham: Runpast Publishing. ISBN 1-870754-11-5.
  3. ↑ MacDermot, E T (1931). History of the Great Western Railway, volume II 1863–1921. London: Great Western Railway.
  4. ↑ West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser, Railway Special Edition, 1859
  5. ↑ Tolson, JM; Roose, G; Whetmath, CFD (1974). Railways of Looe and Caradon. Bracknell: Forge Books.
  6. 1 2 Messenger, Michael (2001). Caradon & Looe: the canal, railways and mines. Truro: Twelveheads Press. ISBN 0-906294-46-0.
  7. ↑ Beale, Gerry (2000). The Liskeard and Looe Branch. Didcot: Wild Swan Publications Ltd. ISBN 1-874103-47-X.
  8. ↑ "Presentation to a Station Master". Lake’s Falmouth Packet and Cornwall Advertiser. England. 16 December 1871. Retrieved 4 July 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ↑ "Truro's New Stationmaster". Lake’s Falmouth Packet and Cornwall Advertiser. England. 6 March 1897. Retrieved 4 July 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ↑ "Personal". Exeter Flying Post. England. 10 May 1897. Retrieved 4 July 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. ↑ "St Just". Cornishman. England. 1 March 1917. Retrieved 4 July 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. ↑ "West of England News". Western Morning News. England. 6 May 1919. Retrieved 4 July 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  13. ↑ "Death of Liskeard Stationmaster". Cornish Guardian. England. 11 September 1925. Retrieved 4 July 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  14. ↑ "From Par to Liskeard". Cornish Guardian. England. 17 July 1941. Retrieved 4 July 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  15. ↑ "Liskeard's New Stationmaster". Cornish Guardian. England. 7 August 1941. Retrieved 4 July 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  16. ↑ "Stationmaster's Promotion". Cornish Guardian. England. 28 January 1965. Retrieved 4 July 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  17. 1 2 Beacham, Peter; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2014). The Buildings of England. Cornwall. Yale University Press. p. 312. ISBN 9780300126686.
  18. ↑ "Station Usage". Rail Statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
  19. ↑ Table 51 & 135 National Rail timetable, May 2016
  20. ↑ Table 140 National Rail timetable, May 2016

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Liskeard railway station.
  • Clinker, CR (1963). The Railways of Cornwall 1809 – 1963. Dawlish: David and Charles.
  • Cooke, RA (1977). Track Layout Diagrams of the GWR and BR WR, Section 11: East Cornwall. Harwell: RA Cooke.
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