ST IVES BAY LINE

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The 'St Ives Bay Line' is a railway line from St Erth to St Ives in Cornwall, UK. It was opened in 1877 by the St Ives Branch Railway, and subsumed into the Great Western Railway the following year. It was the last broad gauge railway to be built in Britain, and was converted to standard gauge in 1892. In 1979 a new station, Lelant Saltings, was opened between Lelant and St Erth. During peak hours, some trains from St Ives continue to Penzance and vice versa.

Contents

Stations

The Route

Services

Popular culture

External links

References

Stations

The places served by the route are listed below.

★ St Erth

★ Lelant

★ Carbis Bay

★ St Ives

The Route

The branch line is single track for its duration, and follows the coast for much of its length. It has been listed as one of the most picturesque railways in England.^[1]
The line diverges from the main line at St Erth. After the line goes underneath the two A30 road bridges (used for the roundabout) the line follows the western side of the Hayle Estuary. After Lelant the line enters a long cutting and round the corner, where the line comes out with the Lelant golf course on the left, and the sand dunes of Porth Kidney Sands beach on the right. The line then climbs up and onto the steep cliffs, about 30m above sea level. Soon after is the town of Carbis Bay. The line then continues on the cliffs edge until you reach the small terminus at the popular coastal resort of St Ives
In recent years, due to heavy traffic congestion in St Ives, the railway has been promoted as a park and ride for visitors to the town, with the construction of new facilities at Lelant Saltings, close to the A30 trunk road.

Services

Passenger services are currently operated by First Great Western. Previously, Wessex Trains held the franchise on this route, hence the Sprinter trains which operate on this branch line still carry the local tourist route liveries including a bright blue Super Sprinter unit titled ‘The St. Ives Bay line’. In the summer months when traffic levels are high, most services are run by 2 class 150 sets, and in the winter the branch is run by a single class 153.
When FGW took over the operation of this line from Wessex Trains, there were huge line cuts.^[2] The service was axed from 26 trains per day to 16 trains. The cuts, which were repeated all over Devon and Cornwall, were branded as "son of Beeching." A campaign was started to prevent such cuts (see "campaign" in External Links below). As of the summer 2007 timetable, however, there are 26 return journeys per day on weekdays.^[3]

Popular culture

The line was referred to in the song "Slow Train" by Flanders and Swann.

External links

★ Great Scenic Railways of Devon and Cornwall.

★ Campaign Against New Beeching Report

References

1. List of Scenic Rail Routes of Europe published in Thomas Cook European Timetables
2. BBC news report 9 March 2006
3. National Rail Enquiries.