For as long as I can remember, whenever Dad headed the car for home from the towns, villages and beaches along the eastern coast of Mount’s Bay, the road would rise from the sea front dunes, turn sharp left after the railway bridge, and Marazion Station building would always draw your attention – a dark brown stump on a flattened landscape. There were Pullman Camping Coaches parked behind, but they were set back, and the exposed climate made sure they were never very impressive: and on the opposite side of the track were sidings that gradually got removed over the years. It is still virtually as it was – a station building with cut back platform facing, and approach road down from the bridge, and hummocks of grass.
I cannot really remember the station being active, though it was in use in my earliest years. Like Ponsandane, it had platforms for good traffic, and many thousands of tons of agricultural produce were loaded there on eastbound trains. However, I’m really glad it is still there, and dream that one day it may be dismantled and rebuilt on a heritage railway where it can be used and enjoyed in a more accessible setting!
In contrast to the coaches behind, 3326 “ST AUSTELL” is in very presentable form as it leaves Marazion for Penzance in 1907 with a local passenger service – its tender showing no sign of the depletion a longer journey would make. Behind it are the sidings and loading bay of the station, and further back the marsh and outskirts of Long Rock village. 07###AA01-MZN-s3326-PAS_D
Home and Distant signals are down as 6949 “HABERFIELD HALL” rounds the curve at Marazion Marshes with a down carmine and cream coloured train in 1951. Of interest for me are the sidings each side of the track which I never saw – those to the right with cattle wagons for the broccoli traffic, and those on the nearside with a couple of dozen wagons. 51###AB01-MZN-s6949-PAS_D
This rather unattractive postcard view of Camping Coaches at Marazion show delapidation, suggesting it was printed post-WW2 when resources of all sorts were scarce. A well-worn track runs toward the sea, a privacy sign hangs at an angle, and the boundary fence is broken – behind is the main line, station building chimneys and Long Rock village. #####AZ01-MZN-COACH-PARKD
A ‘County’ class loco trundles eastward through Marazion Station with a “Marazion. Not in common use” toad brake van. A signal with both home and distant signals are set “off” for a down movement, and vans are sprinkled around the yard. 6####CJ01-MZN-s10##-SHU_G
The fireman of 6824 “ASHLEY GRANGE” seems far from “camera shy” as it passes westwards through Marazion Station in the early 1960s. The lights on its buffer beam describe it as an express freight, but consisting of a van, wagon and brake van, it doesn’t appear quite as impressive as its headcode. 60###AJ01-MZN-s6824-GDS_D
Steaming through Marazion Station in the Summer of 1959, 1002 “COUNTY OF BERKSHIRE” looks unlikely to stop. Its train is in GWR livery and the whole scene seems nearly ‘pre-nationalisation’. I was a toddler of three at this time – living 2 miles away. 59####A01-MZN-s1002-PAS_U
Marazion Station is viewed from the approach road showing standard ex-GWR Camping Coaches in the down side sidings and, opposite, various arrays of vans. The Station Master’s House is on the far left, where smoke rises from Long Rock depot behind. 6204#DF01-MZN-STATN-VI__N
Truro-shedded 4906 “BRADFIELD HALL” draws away from a deserted Marazion Station towards the overbridge with an up goods service. Wooden brocolli boxes are stacked behind the tracks awaiting collection, also flanked by trim cutting sides and fencing beyond. A solitary car leaves the environs of Long Rock. 530718A01-MZN-s4906-PAS_U
Station staff congregate at the east end of Marazion’s up platform as 8748 shunts the yard, that is full of trucks for broccoli and new potatoes. A cyclist peddles down the opposite platform, and one porter engages the loco’s driver in conversation, while another hauls a trolley of parcels clear of the track and walkway. 6####HI01-MZN-STATN-VIS_W
5376 heads a local passenger service through Marazion Station – this view is at the west end with the distinctive pine wood in the background; the long white prefabricated building; and one of the loading platforms. The black liveried loco, oozing steam, surprisingly has a rather full bunker, and heads a chocolate and cream rake of coaches. 59####999-MZN-s5376-PAS_D
Passing milepost 324/III and leading off a train of agricultural vans, 6868, Penzance-allocated “PENRHOS GRANGE” takes the strain prior to joining the main up at Marazion Station in 1959. Behind is St Theresa’s, the Cheshire Home; ‘Bog Plantation’; and the top of the weighbridge hut. A concrete ballast bunker for touching up track voids is in the foreground. 59###AH01-MZN-s6868-GDS_U
A view of 1015 “COUNTY OF GLOUCESTER”, taken from the seaside lineside fence, as it runs through the western end of Marazion Station with the down ‘Cornish Riviera Express’ in 1959. In the background on the marsh fringe is the fir tree wood; a fence with advertising hoardings; the prefabricated agricultural store; and a loading platform and isolated van. 59###AH01-MZN-s6868-GDS_U
Wearing a Laira (Plymouth) shed plate below its smokebox number, 6849 “WALTON GRANGE” clanks through Marazion Station light engine during May 1958. The station layout is very neat with manicured track, board crossing, reduced-height signal, loading gauge and retaining wall, and the sun, high clouds and deep shadows suggest a fine day. 5805##A01-MZN-s6849-LIG_U
D861 “VIGILANT” heads east through Marazion in 1963 with the 10:30am train of vans for Plymouth. A “down” movement is signaled to stop at Long Rock, and for sighting reasons with the footbridge, the “up” signal has been lowered to 3/4 height of the signal pole. 630420A01-MZN-D861–PAS_U
Partially-truncated tracks into Marazion goods yard still exist along with rusting barrow crossing lamp post and loading gauge, as D1063 “WESTERN MONITOR” passes through with the 5.20pm Penzance to Manchester on 12th July 1966. The signal box still pulls off the signals at this time, but was to close about a couple of months later. 660712A01-MZN-D1063-PAS_U
D602 “ACTIVE” in recently applied rail blue livery snarls its way eastwards with an up passenger service at a very rationalised Marazion Station. Sleepers from the area before them have been piled up on the bank awaiting reclamation, and the platforms have gone. The coaches are in BR livery with yellow destination boards. 6####HN01-MZN–D600-PAS_U
With the ballast embankment magnifying the sound of the loco and carriages, D867 “ZENITH” checks a little for the curve through Marazion Marshes before rolling beneath the overbridge and through the ex-Marazion Station site with a Penzance-bound service. 7####EX01-MZN–d867-PAS_D
North British built ‘Warship Class’ 852 “TENACIOUS” – minus its diamond builder’s plate – growls around the curve through Marazion Marshes with an “up” freight. The building complex in the pastoral background is a well-known local feature – a Leonard Cheshire Home. 6####EX02-MZN–D852-GDS_U
D1001 “WESTERN PATHFINDER” heads the 1A69 at Marazion, passing the former station site and its line of camping coaches on 8th June 1976. Concrete channelling for the new signalling has been placed beside the track and both lines have been recently re-ballasted. In the yard is a heap of domestic coal awaiting collection and delivery. A ‘Modern Image’ slide. 760608A01-MZN-D1001-PAS_U
Reeds gently wave while the peace is broken by work-worn D1065 “WESTERN CONSORT” with a down passenger curves around the bend at Marazion Marshes in June 1974. Cable conduit has been laid beside the line for the new signal opposite on the crest of the curve, and gorse marks sidings that were on both sides of the track at a former date. A ‘Modern Image’ slide. 7406##A02-MZN-D1055-PAS_D
The view seaward from Marazion Marshes as a train sped up line in 1978: St Michael’s Mount is seen across the reeds and Cornish wall with the coastal road on it. The Mount is always a “moving” sight for me – welcoming or portending separation for months. 780823A03-MZN-ST_MM-VI__S
A telephoto view of the Mount from the railway – at the minute when home was left behind and my heart sank a little. It’s Cornish name means “rock in the forest”, and I’ve seen the roots of trees in the sand. Jointed granite boulders make up most of the mound. 780823A04-MZN-ST_MM-VI__S
With spotlight breaking the gloom, large logo 50047 “Swiftsure” banks as it hits the curve through the site of Marazion Station with an up train of vans. Some of the former ‘up’ goods yard platforms are still in existence, but no longer used. 8509#AA01-MZN-50047-PAS_U
50050 “Fearless” heads an up passenger service of mixed ACS, Mk1 Kitchen, Mk2 and GUV towards the site of the former Marazion Station, past an overgrown goods platform and the 324/III milepost. Thick grass hummocks form the bank opposite. 8509#AA02-MZN-50050-PAS_U
The platform has been cropped back to the station house wall foundations at Marazion, and although perilously near the tracks where trains speed by, this fine building has fortunately been preserved. Limited remedial work had been done on it at the time. 890728A02-MZN-S_BLG-VIS_S
This scene behind Marazion Station’s station building shows the five ex-Pullman Car Camping Coaches in 1989. They are parked in a siding with gaps between and access steps added. As can be seen, gas is also supplied to supplement the water and electricity. 890728A01-MZN-SYARD-VI__W
47620 ‘Windsor Castle’ passes through Marazion Marshes with the 15:02 Plymouth – Penzance on 24th August 1985. Beside its spotlight, it has a steel headcode insert with perspex discs as marker lights, and the carriages behind are of a mixed variety. 850824A01-MZN-47620-PAS_D
D817 “FOXHOUND” is on a down express on 21st April 1962, apparently ‘near Penzance’ – though the curvature of the track doesn’t seem to match the route from St Erth along the ‘Red River’ valley, nor did the glass houses in the background match any location I’m aware of. The train is soundly in GWR livery. 620421A01-MZN–D817-PAS_D
The Eric Curnow Collection 