Liskeard and Looe Railway

The Liskeard and Looe Railway was a railway originally built between Moorswater, in the valley west of Liskeard, and Looe, in Cornwall, England, UK, and later extended to Liskeard station on the Cornish Main Line railway. The first section was opened in 1860 and was owned by the Liskeard and Looe Union Canal Company, whose canal had earlier (from 1827) been built to convey sea sand and lime up the valley of the East Looe River, for the purpose of improving agricultural land.

When copper and tin ores were discovered on Caradon Hill, they were brought down to Looe Harbour over the canal; the volume of traffic became too much for the canal, and the railway was built. It was short of money and operated with a single hired locomotive at first, carrying minerals from Caradon to the sea at Looe, as well as coal and machinery, and some agricultural materials up the valley.

Passenger traffic was started in 1879, and at the same time mineral extraction was already declining. Seeing the disadvantage of being isolated from other railways, the Company built a connecting line between Moorswater and Liskeard station, on the main line; this was opened in 1901, and encouraged passenger and general goods traffic.

A peculiarity of the line is the circuitous route from Liskeard to Coombe, and the reversal there; there is a steep gradient to descend from Liskeard into the valley, and sharp curves.

The line remains open for passenger traffic, which is (2013) operated by First Great Western under the brand name "The Looe Valley Line".

The Liskeard and Looe Railway can nowadays be more conveniently thought of as the Looe Branch. It leaves Liskeard station (on the broadly east-west Plymouth to Penzance main line) in a northward direction, turning in a narrow sweep to pass southwards under the main line, continuing to turn to reach Coombe Junction, again facing north. The original line from Looe continued northwards for a short distance at this point to Moorswater, connecting there with the Liskeard and Caradon Railway; nowadays this is reduced to a stub leading to a nearby private siding at Moorswater.

...
Wikipedia