Penzance railway station

Penzance railway station (Cornish: Pennsans) serves the town of Penzance in west Cornwall, England. It is the terminus of the Cornish Main Line from Plymouth and situated 326 miles 50 chains (326.62 mi; 525.7 km) from the zero point at London Paddington measured via Box and Plymouth Millbay.^[1] It is the southernmost railway station in Great Britain.^[2][3][4] The first station opened in 1852 and through travel to and from London commenced from 1859 with the opening of the Royal Albert Bridge. The station was rebuilt by the Great Western Railway in 1876 and the current layout was the result of a further rebuilding in the 1930s. As of 2023, the station is owned by Network Rail and managed by Great Western Railway who also operate train services there, together with CrossCountry.

Penzance Pennsans
General information
Location	Penzance, Cornwall England
Coordinates	50°07′19″N 5°31′59″W / 50.122°N 5.533°W / 50.122; -5.533
Grid reference	SW475306
Managed by	Great Western Railway
Platforms	4
Other information
Station code	PNZ
Classification	DfT category C1
History
Original company	West Cornwall Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Western Railway
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway
Key dates
Opened	1852
Passengers
2017/18	0.569 million
2018/19	0.570 million
2019/20	0.574 million
2020/21	0.190 million
Interchange	1,370
2021/22	0.516 million
Interchange	4,472
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

Broad gauge era

The station was opened by the West Cornwall Railway on 11 March 1852^[5] as the terminus of its line from Redruth. The station itself consisted of a single platform face, and along with the rest of the West Cornwall Railway was laid as standard gauge.^[6] This changed in 1866 when the West Cornwall Railway was relaid to mixed gauge allowing South Devon Railway Leopard class locomotive Lance to bring in the first broad gauge train which carried dignitaries from Truro,^[6] although the small station with the single platform remained with little other alteration. A siding extended beyond the goods shed and ran along Albert Quay.^[7]

In 1876 the Great Western Railway took over the West Cornwall Railway and a major redevelopment was undertaken. An enlarged goods shed was built and the wooden passenger buildings were replaced by a much larger station built in rock-faced granite^[8] to a design by William Lancaster Owen. The total cost was around £15,000 (equivalent to £1,620,000 in 2021)^[9] which included the 250ft by 80ft roof which cost £5,000 for the iron and the 50 tons of glass.^[10] The new station had the booking office at street level with the two platforms were accessed by a staircase,^[7] and was used for the first time on 18 November 1879.^[11] However, the new station suffered from teething problems, as by 1880 it was reported that some settlement in the masonry and shrinkage of the iron in the roof had caused several sheets of the glazing to break.^[12]

In 1892, station was converted from broad gauge to standard gauge. At the same time, work was undertaken to widen and extend both the two platforms, and a fourth road was laid in the station.^[7]

After 1892

 

Inside the second station c. 1915, a Steam Rail Motor waits to depart

Following grouping, about 60 staff were employed at Penzance station by the 1930s. In 1937 the GWR were granted permission to reclaim land from the sea, permitting a significant enlargement of the station with the capacity being doubled with two platforms providing four platform faces, three of which were under the main roof.^[13]

The blocked-up archway in the wall that retains the hillside behind the platforms was used by the railway as a coal store.

The last train of the steam era to Penzance was a railtour hauled by West Country class 34002 Salisbury on 3 May 1964.^[14]

The WCR station had a disc-and-crossbar signal on the end of the single platform, this being common on the GWR and associated companies.^[6] This was replaced by the familiar semaphore signals, and these were replaced in turn by colour light signals in 1982.^[14]

Further alterations were made in 1983 when a new ticket office and buffet were opened.^[15] The 1983 refurbishment also included the replacement of the lantern roof with a different design.^{[Note 1]} The new roof failed to vent diesel fumes from the trains to the necessary safety standard, meaning passengers had to alight outside the concourse.^[16]

From 1996, South West Trains operated a weekly weekend service from London Waterloo as an extension of its service to Exeter St Davids. This ceased in December 2009.

In 2012–13 the station's roof was refurbished.^[17]

Preceding station	Historical railways			Following station
Terminus		Great Western Railway Cornish Main Line		Marazion

Platform layout

 

The station layout

Platforms 1, 2 and 3 are within the main train shed; Platform 4 on the south side is in the open air. A large stone at the end of this platform welcomes people to Penzance in both English and Cornish. This side of the station is built on the sea wall near the harbour; the other side is cut into the hillside.

There is only one bi-directional line into/out of the station as far as the (now defunct) station at Marazion, as the former northbound line has been used to access Penzance TMD at Long Rock since 1977.

Facilities

As the western terminus of the Night Riviera service from London Paddington, the station has a sleeper lounge and a shower room to the northern end of the concourse, as well as waiting rooms and two cafes in the concourse. There is also an information point on platform 3.^[18]

Services

 

A CrossCountry Class 221 in platform 4

Penzance is the terminus of the Cornish Main Line. Great Western Railway operate local and inter-regional services operate to and from Plymouth and Cardiff Central and InterCity services to and from London Paddington station including the overnight Night Riviera sleeping car service. There a small number of CrossCountry services each day to and from destinations in the West Midlands and north such as Birmingham New Street, Leeds, and Edinburgh.^[19]

Penzance is the terminus of the longest distance train service in the United Kingdom, which runs from Aberdeen takes about 13 and a half hours.^[20]

Freight and mail

The WCR station had both a goods shed and a locomotive shed between the passenger station and the sea, and when a fire destroyed the goods shed in 1876^[21] the building was enlarged considerably incorporating the original locomotive shed^[6] which had been replaced by one on the opposite side of the line near the end of the retaining wall, which in turn was replaced by the new Penzance Traction Maintenance Depot outside the station at Long Rock. In the first decade of the 20th century Penzance was typically handling 45,000 tons of goods each year.^[7]

In November 1882 there were complaints about the paving, rail tracks and the difficulty for traffic to pass on the Albert Pier. The Borough Council requested the Railway Company to replace the paving with granite setts before relaying the rails.^[22]

When the expansion of 1937 doubled the number of platform faces, the fourth face was outside the overall roof, and this was used for mail and parcels traffic as access to the road was provided.^[13]

In 1987 the goods facilities were removed and the land levelled for use as a car park.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Terminus		Great Western Railway Cornish Main Line		St Erth
		CrossCountry Cornish Main Line
	Ferry services
St Mary's		Isles of Scilly Steamship Company Ferry		Terminus

Passenger volume

Penzance is the second busiest station in Cornwall, Truro being the busiest with more than twice the number of passengers compared with Penzance. Comparing the year from April 2011 to that which started in April 2002, passenger numbers increased by 48%.^[23]

	2002–03	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11	2011–12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19
Entries	199,282	205,025	210,998	235,377	253,881	323,269	260,491	278,273	289,824	281,496	266,629	274,865	271,518	280,169	284,418	285,049
Exits	192,726	197,974	202,907	226,387	244,409	323,269	260,491	278,273	289,824	281,496	266,629	274,865	271,518	280,169	284,418	285,049
Interchanges	unknown	2,132	748	699	354	49	200	22	118	-	31	172	174	17	1,384	1,598
Total	392,008	405,132	414,653	462,463	498,644	646,538	521,182	556,568	579,648	562,992	533,258	549,730	543,036	560,338	568,836	570,098

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Notes

1. One source gives the date of the new roof as 1990.

References

Citations

1. Padgett, David (June 2018) [1989]. Munsey, Myles (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 3: Western & Wales (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. map 11B. ISBN 978-1-9996271-0-2.
2. Pipe, Vicki; Marshall, Geoff (2018). The Railway Adventures. September Publishing.
3. "Penzance Railway Station | Images of Cornwall". Cornwall Guide. 15 March 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
4. "Trail Of The Unexpected: Art at the end of the line". The Independent. 15 August 2008. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
5. "West Cornwall Railway. Opening of the Line from Redruth to Penzance". Royal Cornwall Gazette. Falmouth. 12 March 1852. Retrieved 5 October 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
6. Vaughan 2009, p. 19.
7. Vaughan 2009, p. 155.
8. Beacham, Peter; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2014). The Buildings of England. Cornwall. Yale University Press. p. 430. ISBN 9780300126686.
9. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
10. "Penzance". The Cornishman. No. 74. 11 December 1879. p. 4.
11. "Fire at the Penzance New Railway Station". West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser. Falmouth. 20 November 1879. Retrieved 5 October 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
12. "Penzance". Cornishman. Falmouth. 3 June 1880. Retrieved 5 October 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
13. Vaughan 2009, p. 156.
14. Mitchell 1994, p. 143.
15. Bennett, Alan (1988). The Great Western Railway in West Cornwall. Cheltenham: Runpast Publishing. ISBN 1-870754-12-3.
16. Michael Sagar-Fenton (2017). Penzance in 50 Buildings. Amberley Publishing. p. 55. ISBN 9781445665863.
17. "Penzance train station: Giving travellers a good welcome". The Cornishman. 8 November 2012. Archived from the original on 17 September 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
18. "National Rail Enquiries -". www.nationalrail.co.uk. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
19. "K1 train times". Great Western Railway. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
20. Barrow, Andrew (6 February 2015). "Britain in a day: the longest train route in the country". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
21. "Fire at the Penzance Railway Station". Royal Cornwall Gazette. Falmouth. 22 January 1876. Retrieved 5 October 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
22. "The Albert Pier Obstruction". The Cornishman. No. 226. 9 November 1882. p. 8.
23. "Station Usage". Rail Statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Retrieved 25 March 2010.

References

• Vaughan, John (2009). An Illustrated History of the Cornish Main Line. OPC. ISBN 978-0-86093-625-1.
• Mitchell, David (1994). British Railways past and present: Cornwall. Vol. 17. Peterboroough: Past & Present publishing. ISBN 1-85895-060-0.

External links

•  Cornwall portal

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Penzance railway station.

• Video footage and history of Penzance railway station
• Train times and station information for Penzance railway station from National Rail

Further reading

• "Travel Centre". Rail Enthusiast. EMAP National Publications. October 1982. p. 52. ISSN 0262-561X. OCLC 49957965.

This station offers access to the South West Coast Path
Distance to path	50 yards (46 m)
Next station anticlockwise	Falmouth Docks 60 miles (97 km)
Next station clockwise	St Ives 41 miles (66 km)