Kingswear railway station
| Kingswear | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Location | |
| Place | Kingswear |
| Area | South Hams |
| Coordinates | 50°20′56″N 3°34′21″W / 50.34882°N 3.57253°WCoordinates: 50°20′56″N 3°34′21″W / 50.34882°N 3.57253°W |
| Grid reference | SX881510 |
| Operations | |
| Original company | Dartmouth and Torbay Railway |
| Managed by | South Devon Railway |
| Pre-grouping | Great Western Railway |
| Post-grouping | Great Western Railway |
| Operated by | Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway |
| Platforms | 2 |
| History | |
| 1864 | Opened |
| 1972 | Preserved |
| 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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Kingswear railway station is the terminus of the Dartmouth Steam Railway, a heritage railway in Devon, England. It is situated in the centre of Kingswear, on the shores of the River Dart opposite Dartmouth.
The station has level access to the street and is adjacent to Yacht Club Hotel, the pontoon for the Dartmouth Passenger Ferry, and the slipway of the Dartmouth Lower Ferry.
The railway to Kingswear was built by the Dartmouth and Torbay Railway, opening on 16 August 1864. The original aim had been to reach Dartmouth but the railway station in that town, which sold train tickets and processed parcels but lacked platforms and trains, was only ever reached by ferry. The railway company opened the Yacht Club Hotel at the southern end of the station in 1866, intended mainly for passengers on the ocean-going ships that called at Dartmouth at that time.
Goods trains were run to Kingswear from 2 April 1866 and these proved to be of great importance, not just in shipping goods out by sea, but also in carrying coal landed at Kingswear to the gas works at Hollacombe between Paignton and Torquay railway stations.
The Dartmouth and Torbay Railway was always operated by the South Devon Railway Company and was amalgamated with it on 1 January 1872. This was only short lived as the South Devon Railway was in turn amalgamated into the Great Western Railway on 1 February 1876. The line had been built using the 7 ft (2,134 mm) broad gauge, but on 21 May 1892 was closed for the weekend to be converted to 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge; the 28 men responsible for the work in the area were accommodated in the station's goods shed, which was situated on the river side of the main station train shed. New sidings were laid in 1894 and a signal box opened to control the trains; the following year more sidings were laid on land reclaimed from the river north of the station and a long footbridge constructed over the station to carry a footpath to the shore of the river.
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Wikipedia