Tamar Valley Line
| Tamar Valley Line | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| Type | Community railway |
| Locale | Cornwall and Devon |
| Termini |
Plymouth Gunnislake |
| Operation | |
| Owner | Network Rail |
| Operator(s) | Great Western Railway |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 14 miles (23 km) |
| Number of tracks | Single track throughout |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) |
| Operating speed | 55 mph (89 km/h) |
The Tamar Valley Line is a railway line from Plymouth, Devon, to Gunnislake, Cornwall, in England, also known as the Gunnislake branch line. The line follows the River Tamar for much of its route. Like all railway lines in Devon and Cornwall, it is unelectrified and all trains are diesel powered. The entire line is single track past St. Budeaux Junction.
The line from St Budeaux to Bere Alston was opened for passenger traffic on 2 June 1890 by the Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway (PDSWJ) as part of their line from Lydford to Devonport, which in effect was an extension of the London and South Western Railway's main line from London Waterloo station to Lydford, enabling the LSWR to reach Plymouth independently of the Great Western Railway.
The branch to Gunnislake was opened by the PDSWJ on 2 March 1908.
The line was listed for closure in the Reshaping of British Railways Report but was kept open (apart from the section between Gunnislake and Callington – closed in November 1966) because the roads in the areas served were poor.
The line used former LSWR O2 Class tank engines as the main form of motive power for many years but in the 1950s newer LMS Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2T engines took over. By 1964 steam had been ousted from the line and DMUs had taken over, working as two-car sets.
Today services are operated by Great Western Railway using Class 150 or Class 153 diesel multiple units.
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Wikipedia