21st May – A trip to the Maritime (Falmouth) Line
I had a handful of stations left on my list which needed to be revisited for some photos, all were on the Maritime Line, the name of the railway between Truro & Falmouth. The weather looked to be good for some walks along the way so with a spring in my foot I drove to Salisbury station to take the 06:15 service all the way to Exeter St Davids where I had a 20 minute wait before taking a pair of 802s for the long run to Truro.
A short wait at Truro before a 150 rolled into the bay platform from Falmouth and I took a seat (sadly it was one of the few 3+2 seated examples GWR have) for the run to Perranwell station. When I first visited this station back in 2015 it was a request stop, but at some point, it has lost that status. I fired up maps and headed for a walk downhill towards a mixed used path on the trackbed of the former Redruth and Chasewater Railway route taking me underneath the wonderful Carnon Viaduct, where I had a pause to photograph the next Falmouth train passing over.
A 150 crossing the Carnon Viaduct, near Perranwell
After leaving the mixed used path I went up a very steep hill, before some other paths leading me over the railway line with an unexpected foot crossing, before walking back to the station on a path next to the road. This is an area I wouldn’t mind returning to on another day for a better explore, but it was time to head all the way to Falmouth Docks on 150216, for another walk.
This walk took me towards Pendennis Point following the English Coast Path, some beautiful views of the water & cliffs, plus an old castle. After circling the point, I headed along a coastal road towards Gyllyngvase Beach & Swanpool beach, before making my way back inland via a Co-Op for lunch before making my way to Penmere station.
Coastline around the Castle Beach area in Falmouth
I had a short wait at Penmere before 150216 took me to Falmouth Town, for a short wait before it returned to take me to Penryn with the unusual track layout, which allowed me to tick off England for station photos. I headed away from the station in the 30-minute wait to try and get a photograph of the viaduct (probably needs longer to walk a bit further to a path which looks like it goes underneath the viaduct itself). Anyhow I returned to the station to take another 150 for the run back to Truro where once more I had a little walk.
Penryn Station, Great Britain Tick for station photos. What on earth will I do next?
This walk took me on a mixed used path following the route of the former Newham branch line, taking in a loop of the western part of the city. A nice woodland path which has had some money spent on upgrading the path quality with stones. This path came out in the Newham area of Truro, with the next leg being to follow the River via a Tesco for dinner towards the city centre. I swung via Victoria Gardens to try and get a photo of the railway viaduct before returning to the station, to go back to playing with trains.
I was originally going to take the pair of 802s to Lostwithiel to step back to a HST 30 minutes later, but when I noticed the 21:25 Salisbury train was a single 3 coach unit, I decided to ditch Lostwithiel (one of those stations on my list where I want to revisit for some better photos, and for a little explore as from memory I only had 10 minutes at the station when I visited). I stayed on the 802s for the run back to Exeter St Davids, exiting the station for some fresh(ish) air before returning to board the 20:25 service, which was a pair of 159s.
802016 departs Exeter St Davids
I was in coach 4 (of 6) and it was empty after Honiton, picking up a few other passengers along the way, but soon enough Salisbury was reached, and I had a relaxing drive home. A successful day in Cornwall, no more stations on my list to revisit outright, so that challenge is complete.
What comes next? Well in terms of blogging a short break, the next few weeks I'm only using the trains as a means to visit places to walk somewhere else (Overton to Basingstoke, Mortimer to Basingstoke, Thames Path etc) and those don't make for good writing. Neither do the reports where I head to London to hunt down any new units (or my last few South Eastern units for mileage). So for the meanwhile just remember to stop, look & listen when you come to footpath crossings of railway lines, as you never know a voyager might be round the corner.
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| A voyager passing a foot crossing between Bramley & Mortimer |
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