COAST TO COAST

FALMOUTH TOWN | 1970

perranporth-beach-halt-large-courtesy-of-STEAM-Museum-Of-The-GWR

Perranporth Beach Halt, courtesy of STEAM Museum of the GWR

Falmouth Town's platform began its life on the Atlantic coast at Perranporth Beach Halt before being moved and reused.

Perranporth Beach Halt was opened by the GWR in July 1931 on the line from Truro, Chacewater and St Agnes to Newquay. It was about ¼ mile (400m) west of the main Perranporth station.

The line closed on 2 February 1963, a few weeks before Dr Richard Beeching published his report, “The Reshaping of British Railways”, which led to many more closures across the country.

The Falmouth line was not listed for closure in the report but there was an attempt to close it in 1966. This was rebuffed.

Falmouth’s railway opened on 24 August 1863 and for almost sixty-two years, Falmouth had just the one station, the one known as Falmouth Docks today.

Housing development led to the opening of Penmere Platform on 1 July 1925.

In the late 1960s, it was decided to build a new Falmouth station closer to the town centre and to close the original one.

Railway managers remembered that Perranporth Beach Halt platform was lying abandoned and that, because it was made up of concrete panels, part of it could be brought to Falmouth and reused for the new station.

The station now known as Falmouth Town opened on 7 December 1970 and the original Falmouth station (now Falmouth Docks) was closed. However, because the line here is on a gradient, trains couldn’t terminate here and still needed to run to the original station for the driver and guard to change ends.

There was also still a regular through Paddington train then and that had to run to the original station so that the locomotive could change ends in the loop that existed there then.

Given there had minimal saving from closing the original station, it was reopened, called “Falmouth”, on 5 May 1975. What is now Falmouth Town was then renamed “The Dell”.

The final changes were made in 1988 and 1989. On 16 May 1988, Falmouth Town took on its present name and the original station “Falmouth Dock”, becoming “Falmouth Docks” on 15 May 1989.