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Lostwithiel Railway Station in disrepair

Lostwithiel Station in British Railways waiting room

Current affairs 1976 1 mins Silent

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Overview

Lostwithiel railway station by the River Fowey in Cornwall is left to fall into disrepair. The station, part of the Cornish mainline from Plymouth to Penzance opens in 1859 as the handsomest on the line, a typical Victorian wooden station. The station holds arrivals and departure lounges, a goods shed and a train shed with first, second and third class carriages. Sadly the downside building is demolished and the old shed dismantled for re-use but is also lost.

The Par to Fowey line takes away most of the goods traffic from the Lostwithiel and Fowey Railway and it is subsequently closed in 1880. The Cornwall Minerals Railway reopens the line in 1895 and English China Clay is still transported to the Fowey docks. The passenger service is closed in 1965. In the 1990s the old Lostwithiel station house is demolished and a more modern construction erected to house one of the only listed signal boxes. The listed signal box is used to control the trains connecting from the Bodmin and Wenford Railway.