Devon and Cornwall, Day 8 (Part 1)

Saturday 8th June, morning

Having done the Cornish mainline and the St Ives and Falmouth branches on Friday, on Saturday we sampled the other three Cornish branches, to Looe, Gunnislake and Newquay, each with a very different charm about them. First, to Looe, on one of the weirdest railway lines in the country...

0924 Plymouth to Liskeard, arr 0949 (actual 0954)
Headcode: 1C72, operated by First Great Western using HST rake LA62 with 43172+43012
Distance: 17.75 miles; walk-up return: £3.55

We started much as we had the previous day by heading west over the magnificent Royal Albert Bridge. Unlike the previous day's train at almost exactly the same time, this was not a two-car train that started from Bristol Parkway; it was instead an HST that started at Plymouth, and thus was already sat in the station when we got there.

On arriving at Saltash, the guard announced that there were some bikes blocking the guard's van which needed to be moved; after a seven-minute stand they had evidently been moved and we went on our way. This turned our nice nine-minute connection at Liskeard to a slightly more risky four minutes; we were fairly sure they'd hold the train but not certain.

Fortunately when we arrived in Liskeard we ended up pretty much dead in front of the steps up to the footbridge to cross over to the branch platform, and we alighted smartly and were the first people over the bridge and onto the waiting branch line train to Looe.

However, we weren't the only ones. The world and his wife seemed to want to go to Looe on this fine Saturday morning, and all that waited to shuttle people back and forth was a one-carriage Sprinter (a "dogbox" class 153).

Worse, it was already half-full by the time we got there thanks to - among many others - a bunch of young girl guides off on a trip to Looe. We made it on the train, but many were not so lucky, and we left nearly a whole trainload of people behind on the platform! Eventually, having crammed as many people on as possible, and decided that cancelling the train would have made a bad situation even worse, the train left seven minutes late.

0958 (actual 1005) Liskeard to Looe, arr 1029
and
1032 Looe to Liskeard, arr 1103
Headcode: 2L77 and 2L78 resp., operated by First Great Western using Sprinter 153325
Distance: 8.75 miles; walk-up return: £2.65

The Looe branch is, without doubt, the most insane railway line in Britain. Period.

The trouble all starts in Liskeard itself. Now, the mainline runs east-west, and Looe is south of Liskeard. So you'd expect the bay platform to be on the south side. Wrong! It's on the north side. Furthermore, the bay platform for the branch is at right angles to the mainline. Literally at a right angle.

So, we started off from Liskeard heading north-east. After all of about 500 metres, we start screeching to the right in what turns out to be a tiny horseshoe curve. Before we know it, we've done a 180 degree turn and we're heading south-west, and we go under the great big viaduct carrying the mainline.

We then turn right a bit more to point north-west, and then another line joins from our left at Coombe Junction ground frame (a ground frame is a set of levers for controlling points placed at ground level, like a miniature old-fashioned signalbox without the good view). After another 200 metres we arrive at Coombe Junction Halt, the fifth least-used passenger station in Britain with just 60 people using it in 2011/12.

When we leave Coombe Junction Halt, we find ourselves going backwards! And then we stop again at the ground frame, and the guard swings the points, and we head down the other mysterious line, which turns out to be the Looe branch, and we are finally heading south.

Here's a diagram to help you figure out where on earth we've been:

(Map based on OpenStreetMap; © OpenStreetMap contributors)

So why all this shenanigans? Well, the line to Looe originally continued north to Moorswater, and the connection between Coombe Junction and Liskeard was added much later. Why? Because of the vast difference in height; between leaving Liskeard and arriving at Coombe Junction we have dropped nearly 200 feet. In order to make the gradient manageable, they had to make do with this ridiculous arrangement.

Most trains, in fact, don't bother to go all the way to Coombe Junction Halt station, reversing instead at the ground frame. We deliberately chose one of the two trains a day - both early in the morning - which go via the halt itself, to ensure we'd been on the whole line.

Once we were actually on the branch itself, we could stop worrying about where the train was going and instead focus on the wonderful scenery. The Looe branch is one of the prettiest, most beautiful lines in all of Britain; it skirts the valley of the East Looe River all the way down to the small town of Looe on the coast, where the river becomes quite wide. The river was remarkably still, even where it joined the West Looe River for the last kilometre or so out to Looe Bay.

Being a few minutes late, we barely had time to even set foot on the platform - I didn't bother in the end - before the train back. I would have liked to have some time in Looe, but we didn't have time to look round the end of every branch line. Fortunately the train back was rather less crowded, and we got good seats from which to admire the beautiful view.

Of course, on the way back we had to do the whole rigmarole of reversing and heading round the ridiculous curve all over again. Once we eventually arrived back in Liskeard, the people who were waiting for the train back to Looe - many of whom had been on our train from Plymouth and hadn't made it on the first time - had swelled in number even more, such that I doubt they'd have all fitted in two carriages.

The train left full once more, leaving more people (hopefully not the same people) to wait an hour or so for the next train. We crossed over the road - yes, there's a road between the mainline and the bay platform! - to wait for our train back to Plymouth.

1131 Liskeard to Plymouth, arr 1156
Headcode: 1A83, operated by First Great Western using HST rake LA12 with 43037+43129
Distance: 17.75 miles; walk-up price included above

This train to Paddington was fairly busy, and we couldn't find a table, so the five of us strung out to various bits of the carriage. In order to cram as many commuters from Reading into one train as possible, there are generally just two tables per carriage, with the rest of the seats being airline seats; so it didn't have to be that busy to make it difficult to find a table. At least in this instance it was just a short half-hour run back to Plymouth.

After lunch, we were headed for Gunnislake and then Newquay... but that will have to wait for part two!