History of Penzance

Railway station

Penzance railway station, the terminus of the West Cornwall Railway, opened on 11 March 1852 on the eastern side of the harbour, although trains only ran to Redruth at first. From 25 August 1852 the line was extended to Truro, but the Cornwall Railway linking that place with Plymouth was not opened until 4 May 1859. Passengers and goods had to change trains at Truro as the West Cornwall had been built using the 4 ft 8 ⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) standard gauge, but the Cornwall Railway was built to the 7 ft ⁄₄ in (2,140 mm) broad gauge. The West Cornwall Railway Act included a clause that it would be converted to broad gauge once it had been connected to another broad gauge line, but the company could not raise the funds to do so.

The line was sold to the Great Western Railway and its "Associated Companies" (the Bristol and Exeter Railway and South Devon Railway) on 1 January 1866. The new owners quickly converted the line to mixed gauge using three rails so that both broad and "narrow" trains could operate. Broad gauge goods trains started running in November that year, with through passenger trains running to London from 1 March 1867. The last broad gauge train arrived at 8.49pm on 20 May 1892, having left London Paddington railway station at 10.15am that morning. The two locomotives, numbers 1256 and 3557, took the carriages away to Swindon railway works at 9.57pm, and all trains since have been standard gauge.

The ability of the railway to carry fresh produce