The line dropped a little from St Erth eastwards and it curved around the estuary rising again to cross the Hayle viaduct. Hayle was once an important industrial location, served quite early by a railway line and incline from the mining areas of Camborne/Redruth to the harbour – taking out ore and bringing in coal through a safe, if silt-prone, port. A foundry near the viaduct also smelted and worked metals, making equipment for the mines. My father made a point of showing me horse-drawn shunting before it disappeared, and we frequently passed through the town by car, back and forth under the viaduct, and over the level crossing of the spur up to the mainline station. My most enduring memory is drinking a can of “Top Deck Shandy” with the rail track behind and bladderwrack covered rocks before, down by the water. Sometimes we were held in a queue of cars at the crossing, and I can remember steam train smoke or diesel horns, even if we were too far back to see much of any train as it crossed between the quay and the main line.
The station buildings were on the “down” side, fairly close to the viaduct on its north eastern flank. A footbridge crossed the track to the opposite platform, a signal box and waiting shelter. The signal box lasted until the branch to the quay closed in the early 1980s. 6####EJ01-HYL-S_BLG-VI_NE
50019 with an acs service behind crosses Hayle Viaduct westwards towards Penzance on 22nd July, 1978. Since I first saw it, the locomotive has gained a metal headcode panel with marker light insets, and has been named, “Ramillies”. The A30 buzzes with cars and the low stone wall between them and the viaduct hides the sight of the first Hayle Station. 780722A01-HYL-50019-PAS_D
Both cab windows of 50038 “Formidable” are occupied by staff as the engine pulls away west from Hayle over the viaduct in the Summer of 1978. In the background are the “Towans” – the huge sand hills between the town and the sea – and the chimneys of the former coal-fired power station. A refuge for track workers can be seen above the right hand pillar. 780713A01-HYL-50038-PAS_D
The driver hangs over the side of the cab of 1010 “COUNTY OF CARNARVON” as it begins the climb from Hayle Station towards Angarrack and Gwinear Road with an up express passenger service. The hills on the skyline are actually huge sand dunes between the town and the sea. Photo: M L Boakes 530801A01-HYL-s1010-PAS_U
With a Paddington-bound train D1028 “WESTERN HUSSAR” climbs Angarrack bank on 8th June 1974. I was often puzzled by the wider sweep of railway land on this bend, now covered in waste ballast, and put it down to lessening the severity of the curve – now I suspect it formerly fed the Cornwall Railway wooden viaduct, before its rebuilding. A ‘Modern Image’ slide. 7406##A01-HYL-D1055-PAS_D
50033 heads a down acs passenger service past gardens through Hayle, now modified with a purpose-built domino headcode infill, and named “Glorious”. Without these additions, 50033 looks just as it did when I first saw it on Long Rock depot, six years earlier. 8005##A01-HYL-50033-PAS_D
The Eric Curnow Collection 