Newquay and Cornwall Junction Railway

Newquay and Cornwall Junction Railway
Locale	United Kingdom
Dates of operation	1869–1874
Successor	Cornwall Minerals Railway
Track gauge	7 ft 0 1⁄4 in (2,140 mm)
Length	3.13 miles (5.04 km)
Headquarters	Par, Cornwall

The Newquay and Cornwall Junction Railway was a 7 ft 0 ¹⁄₄ in (2,140 mm) broad gauge railway intended to link the Cornwall Railway with the horse-worked Newquay Railway. It opened a short section to Nanpean in 1869, the remainder being built by the Cornwall Minerals Railway who took over the company in 1874. Its main traffic has always been china clay.

Chronology

• 1864 Newquay and Cornwall Junction Railway Act
• 1869 Line opened
• 1874 Taken over by the Cornwall Minerals Railway
• 1892 Converted to standard gauge
• 1896 Amalgamated with Great Western Railway

History

Late in 1861 the promoters of the Lostwithiel and Fowey Railway proposed to also construct a line from the Cornwall Railway west of St Austell to St Dennis, where it would connect with the horse-drawn Newquay Railway. While the plans were being laid for this new line, which would provide a route for the china clay produced in the district to reach the harbours on the coast, the Cornwall Railway opened a station at Burngullow to tap into this traffic.

An Act of Parliament for the Newquay and Cornwall Junction Railway was obtained on 14 July 1864 but construction proved more difficult than expected due to the hardness of the ground, and funds were not forthcoming to enable the whole line to be built.^[1] The 3.5 miles (5.6 km) from Burngullow to Nanpean was opened to goods traffic on 1 July 1869, it being built to the same broad gauge as the Cornwall Railway. The offices for the company were at Par and shared with the Lostwithiel and Fowey Railway.^[2]

In 1872 it was agreed to lease the line to the newly formed Cornwall Minerals Railway which would complete the connection to the Newquay Railway. It would also convert both this and the Par Tramway for steam engines, and connect these together and with quays at Fowey. The lease took effect from 1 June 1874 but the company never received everything that it had been promised and took legal action against the Cornwall Minerals Railway. The Newquay and Cornwall Junction Railway directors stopped meeting in 1885.

The Great Western Railway took over the operation of the Cornwall Minerals Railway from 1 October 1877 and was amalgamated with this company on 1 July 1896. In the meantime, the line had been converted to 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) standard gauge along with all the other lines west of Exeter over the weekend of 21 May 1892, finally enabling through trains from Burngullow to St Dennis Junction.^[3]

The railway has only ever carried goods traffic. The line no longer extends to St Dennis, but the original line still carries china clay from Parkandillack to Fowey.

Locomotives

The contractor who built the line, William West of St Blazey, also contracted to operate the railway. The Cornwall Minerals Railway operated the same or similar locomotives, but these were withdrawn when the Great Western Railway took over operation. An engine shed was provided at Burngullow. It is unclear how many locomotives were operated but two have been positively identified.^[4]

• Newquay, an 0-4-2ST which had previously worked the South Wales Mineral Railway.
• Phoenix, a tank engine which may have come from Roland Brotherhood, an engineer at Chippenham.

Present day trains are usually powered by EWS Class 66 locomotives.

References

1. ^ Barton, RM (1966). A History of the Cornish China-clay Industry. Truro: D Bradford Barton. 
2. ^ Bradshaw's Railway Manual, Shareholders' Guide and Directory. (1871).
3. ^ Bennett, Alan (1988). The Great Western Railway in Mid Cornwall. Southampton: Kingfisher Railway Publications. ISBN 0-946184-53-4. 
4. ^ The Locomotives of the Great Western Railway, Part 2: Broad Gauge. The Railway Correspondence and Travel Society. ISBN 0-90686-790-8. 

Further reading

• Papers relating to the Newquay and Cornwall Junction Railway can be consulted at The National Archives at Kew. The minute books are believed to have been destroyed but an index to them is held.