Goodrington Sands railway station
| Goodrington Sands | |
|---|---|
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| Location | |
| Place | Paignton |
| Area | Torbay |
| Coordinates | 50°25′30″N 3°33′44″W / 50.4251°N 3.56216°WCoordinates: 50°25′30″N 3°33′44″W / 50.4251°N 3.56216°W |
| Grid reference | SX891595 |
| Operations | |
| Original company | Great Western Railway |
| Operated by | Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway |
| Platforms | 2 |
| History | |
| 1928 | Opened |
| 1972 | Preserved |
| 2006 | Platform 2 Through Track Re-instated. |
| Stations on heritage railways in the United Kingdom | |
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | |
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Goodrington Sands railway station is on the Dartmouth Steam Railway, a heritage railway in Devon, England. It is close to Goodrington beach and the Quay West Water Park in Paignton.
When the Dartmouth and Torbay Railway opened on 14 March 1861 it passed over a level crossing on Tanners Lane, which led to the sea at Goodrington. Building the line across the marsh at Goodrington proved difficult but was achieved by laying redundant pipes from the failed atmospheric railway between Exeter and Newton in the ground for drainage.
It was not until 9 July 1928 that a small station, initially known as just "Goodrington", was opened on the Kingswear side of the level crossing. A second platform was added as the double line, which had reached Tanners Lane in 1928, was extended into the station on 4 July 1930. The area between Paignton and Goodrington Sands was then redeveloped with carriage sidings and a new goods depot to allow the restricted site at Paignton to concentrate on the increasing holiday passenger traffic.
The local council opened a public park and boating lake between the station and the beach in 1936. Work started on a bridge to replace the level crossing in 1939, but this was not completed until 1956 due to World War II. At the same time a new footbridge with a ticket office was opened, from which steps lead down to the platforms. More carriage sidings were laid behind the platform and a 65 feet (20 m) turntable and locomotive facilities provided, mainly to handle the heavy traffic on summer Saturdays.
The signal box was closed on 1 November 1972, and the line was sold on 30 December 1972 to the Dart Valley Light Railway plc which operated another nearby heritage line at Buckfastleigh. Services were only run on the Down line (the one nearest the beach) as British Rail continued to use the Up line for access to the carriage sidings.
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