From the Penzance direction, the appearance of the viaduct over Moorswater valley after a sharp curve to the left of the line gives a good warning of the station’s approach, just around the bend and up the incline from it. The goods yard was on the left just after the viaduct and sometimes an engine would be parked up or shunting there, or possibly the other side of the station. It did seem bizarre having a branch line that started perpendicularly on the right hand side from the platforms, dropping steeply and curving back on itself to pass underneath the Bolitho Viaduct on the Plymouth side of the station, as well as running back on itself in the shadow of Moorswater Viaduct, and also that it was built of a redundant canal towards the coast from there. However, when you realise its forebears were mining tracks, it becomes more comprehensible.
Doublebois Station between Bodmin and Liskeard closed long before I was aware of it, and only the goods loading platform remained once I was. A pair of D63XXs rush through with a Penzance-bound train on 12th August 1967, when infrastructure was still extant. 670812A03-DBS-STATN-VI__W
BR chocolate and cream enamel signs flank 6860 “ABERPORTH GRANGE” as it powers up from the viaduct at the east of Liskeard Station with the 11.40 Paddington to Penzance on 15th July 1961. Also on either side is a “parachute” water tower and white wood, rather than brick built, Liskeard Signal Box. Unissued Colour Rail railway colour slide. 610715A01-LSK-s6860-PAS_D
Possibly sometime in the early 1960’s an up service is signalled through a well-kept Liskeard Station. People stand around waiting, and it looks as if they have avoided a short shower. The track curving to the left at the front leads to the Goods Shed. 6####FS01-LSK-STATN-VI__E
A stippled concrete path leads down to the up platform of Liskeard Station on a foggy day in the 1960s. The 2 car DMU awaits the fall of the nearby semaphore and carries green livery with a white cab roof finish. Maroon stove-enameled signs hang in the stillness, and the cream paint finish of the station buildings stand out in the gloom. 6608#AB01-LSK-2XDMU-PAS_U
Reverberations can be heard clear across the valley as a Western crosses Liskeard Viaduct with a mixed “up” service. The loco is in maroon livery with a small warning panel on its from end, and a pier or two of the old viaduct can still be seen through the arches. 750913A01-LSK-D10##-PAS_U
On 25th June 1970 D804 “AVENGER” hauls an up van train eastwards from Liskeard Station, beside the spur to the goods yard and Looe branch – the former showing no sign of use. In the background a couple of wagons seem to be awaiting the lifted track materials, and in the foreground the rust-pocked spearpoint railings suggest a repaint is due. 700625A02-LSK–D804-GDS_U
On a grey Summer’s day in June, 1970, D807 “CARADOC” heads the afternoon local service to Penzance into Liskeard Station. It is framed between two semaphores, and alongside it the down sidings showing china clay spills. Opposite are rusted rails to the goods yard suggesting inactivity, and piles of sleepers from track alterations await reclamation. 700625A01-LSK–D807-PAS_D
Possibly taken from the footbridge west of Moorswater Viaduct, D1068 “WESTERN RELIANCE” with a down passenger service has respite from the sinuous curves of this area with a short straight stretch. It has a lot of exhaust deposit baked onto its roof and even down its fairly clean sides. 750628999-LSK-d1023-PASGR
D1025 ‘WESTERN GUARDSMAN’ races through Bolitho in 1974 with the 4A13 van train on the approach to Liskeard viaduct, a glimpse of one arch of which can be seen beyond the front cab. It has had its ‘D’ number prefix painted out, and although a little dirty, its logo shows clearly in stark white. 74###AM01-LSK-D1025-PAS_U
47134 runs light-engine eastwards close to Moorswater Viaduct in 1977. The track here illustrates well the vagaries of the Cornish main line, with the fairly straight stretch the locomotive is on following a tight bend to the left and another to its right onto the viaduct ahead of it. The 47 is in typical finish, with presentable sides but exhaust-caked roof. 770802A01-LSK-47134-LIG_U
Sempahores for the up and down main lines signal clearance for passing trains as D1055 “WESTERN ADVOCATE” draws from the west into Liskeard with the 16:10 to Paddington on 7th September 1974. Behind are remnants of the former good shed area – the building familiar in my first years of enthusiasm – but the site nowadays converted to parking for rail users. 740907B01-LSK-D1055-PAS_U
The “up” Cornish Riviera train leaves Liskeard for London on 14th September 1976, headed by 47031 and hauling Mk 2 carriages. Across the track from it is a siding of china clay “hoods” wagons awaiting marshaling with others from elsewhere. 760914A01-LSK-47031-PAS_U
Heading towards Plymouth with the 4A13 vans, D1063 “WESTERN MONITOR” strikes out across Liskeard Viaduct as the sun sets on a fine 1st October 1975. Cows sprinkle the valley, and a herd is hi-lit on the hillside beyond. Photo: Roger Geach. 751001A01-LKD-D1063-PAS_D
A combination of maroon and white corporate enamel signs flank the tracks at Liskeard Station as a ‘Western’ draws in with a Penzance-bound train. This picture was probably taken in the late 60s / early 70s, sometime before headcodes were abolished and Mk2 coaches introduced. A shiny new coach heads the otherwise dull consist of Mk1s. 7####GH01-LSK-D10##-PAS_D
In ex-Works condition, D1006 “WESTERN STALWART” heads the 1A90 away from Liskeard Station sometime in the late 60s/early 70s when yellow destination boards were fixed amidships on carriages. Behind it is a hut in GWR colours, and beside it trackwork leading to the Looe branch. 7####FP01-LSK-D1006-PAS_U
Just east of Liskeard Station, D1051 “WESTERN AMBASSADOR” – presentable, other than its exhaust-caked roofline – ‘digs in its heels’ to take forward the 1A85 Paddington service on 12th July 1976, scheduled to have departed Penzance at 3pm. Weak sun lights the foreground, but the sky shows turbulant cloud behind the electricity pylons and telegraph poles. 760712A01-LSK-D1051-PAS_U
People in different places shelter from the downpour at Liskeard Station as 50042 ‘Triumph’ comes through with a service towards Penzance. Corporate signs stand out brightly, as do the signs surprisingly fixed to every lamp post on the “down” platform. 830405A01-LSK-50042-PAS_D
Luggage is carried shoulder high by a passenger recently arrived off the train from Looe headed by 4568 on 13th July 1955 at Liskeard branch platform. The fence adjacent has been knocked out of shape due to poor manoeuvring by a vehicle owner. 550713A01-LSK-s45##-PARKD
In the bay platform, at right angles to the main line, blue-liveried P118 with the Looe branch train awaits departure time at Liskeard Station on 28th October 1972. The post and wire car park fence seems to have been deemed inadequate and removed. 721028A01-LSK–P118-PAS_O
Passengers board single carriage blue and grey “Bubble Car” P125 for stations to Looe at Liskeard in the late 1970s. Crash barriers have supplemented the wire fence to reduce the danger of a car on the track now there is more of a need for parking space. 7####AX01-LSK–P125-PAS_O
11th June 1966. With a ‘Plymouth’ destination panel, a 2-car DMU in green livery comes off the incline from Liskeard to run across the pointwork and pause before running back on the right-hand spur to Coombe Junction Halt and onwards to Looe. The points rodding to the left of the track and signal cables to the right show the Signal Box was still in use at this time. 660611A01-COE-2XDMU-PAS_D
Rolling through luxuriant countryside, single car DMU P123 is close to the East Looe River on the branch, though it has few if any passengers. The destination blind assembly above its windscreen has been plated over, and it is finished in blue and grey livery. 8207#AA01-LOO–P123-PAS_O
This Edwardian picture of Looe Station shows a GWR saddle tank loco receiving oiling from the driver between services. There seems to be a short platform on the near side half hidden by a shrub – as the water tank is opposite, possibly a coaling stage. #####AA01-LOO-STEAM-PAS_O
It is difficult to make out features in this photograph, but essentially a 45XX tank is running around its train in Looe Station Yard with a railman hanging on to the side. The yard is pretty empty and a light is reflected from the dockside water, devoid of moored boats. 5####AS01-LOO-s45##-SHU_G
Looe Station yard in the 1960s, with demolition beginning to release valuable real estate as the goods traffic has by now rapidly dwindled. Part of the wooden building is still up and piles of spoil lie around the JCB, one of which encroaches the new platform. 6809#AA01-LOO-G_YRD-VI__S
A DMU set in 1971, before cabs were identified by a unit number, is halted at the Looe Station’s stop block after arrival with a service. A new post and chain-link fence, neat tarmac and paving sit a little incongruously with the weather-worn waiting shelter. 710914A01-LOO-DMUX3-PAS_O
The Eric Curnow Collection 