Although larger locos dominated the express passenger and freight runs where speed was important, there were a variety of smaller locomotives for other purposes – and occasionally to substitute for services above their power ratings. Of course, in the early days these were smaller in comparison, but nevertheless they could turn in sterling service when required. Shunting in West Cornwall was so extensive that they had three Shunters’ wagons – often attached to a shunting engine working in Penzance, Ponsandane and Marazion yards, and the St Ives and Helston lines were covered by 45XX locomotives based at Penzance.
The “gem” of my collection so far, I think, as a double headed express pulls away from Penzance Station in the early 1900s with steam and smoke spreading everywhere. The original signal box – rarely seen in remaining photographs – is nearly opposite single line token equipment, and a brave man ascends a precarious ladder to the cable runs on the wall. 10####A02-PNZ-S_LCO-PAS_U
GWR steam locomotive 0-4-4 Tank No. 34 stands on the turntable between the shed and coaling stage at Chyandour. The view through the handrail on the right shows the front of a loco, backed in for filling its coal bunker. #####AJ01-PNZ-s0034-TURNT
Congestion of Penzance Station’s entry point is obvious in this 1899 view of two locomotives behind 3273 “ARMOREL” on the extended turntable, with two men winding, and just clearing a coach’s buffers and the loco’s coal tender. 99###AA01-PNZ-s3273-TURNT
Another view of the GWR Duke class 4-4-0 ‘ARMOREL’ that straddles the turntable at Penzance’s coaling stage, which was tucked in to the Penzance side of Chyandour brook. The ladder leads up to a water tank situated on top of the shed roof. 99###AA02-PNZ-s3273-TURNT
Four proud workmen pose before 4-4-0 No. 3270 “TREVITHICK”. The diagonal course of stone and cable follow the descent of the road behind, and the handles on the turntable might be for “fine tuning” if the winding doesn’t match up well enough. #####AQ01-PNZ-s3270-TURNT
There seems to be a brand-new connecting rod on 3350 “SWIFT”, a 4-4-0 in the hands of a walrus-moustached driver and his fireman. Before the loco and beside the turntable end is what seems to be an ablution area, with hooked post for a hose. #####AK01-CYR-s3350-PARKD
A railway worker sucks on a cigarette beside what seems to be a clerestory-roofed railmotor at Penzance in the period before the station was remodelled. A different worker, a fish porter and the guard all have their attention taken by someone further back towards the town, and a stack of fish baskets is at platform centre. 36##AC01-PNZ-R_MTR-PAS_U
Waves from the Great Storm of 1930 mount up, surge and pound the walls of the railway as a goods train cautiously picks its way out of the station, sheltering a rake of carriages as it does so. The trackbed is saturated with standing water. 3011#AA01-PNZ-WALLS-VI_NE
Out of steam, 3401 ‘VANCOUVER’ is hauled shedwards past the original short arrivals platform at Penzance Station. Stove-enameled signs are fixed to the cliff wall, and the loco’s nameplate surprisingly shows poor casting. r.blencowe@ntlworld.com 5####AQ01-PNZ-s3401-LIG_U
A special visit creates a lot of interest from both platform and the station wall as 3440 “CITY OF TRURO” waits for its return journey eastwards. Its headcode lights are scrupulously clean and stand out well. 5####CT01-PNZ-s3440-PAS_U
Steam from shunter 9475 partially obscures a ‘Warship Class” diesel, backing out chocolate and cream stock on a sunny early evening at Penzance Station, watched by a man and child. The station “chariot” for shunting staff accompanies it, and maroon stock that will be temporary stored elsewhere. The old and new signals beside it show faded and glossy paint finishes. 6####IY06-PNZ-s9475-SHNTG
This view of Penzance Station shows a long rake of coaches on Platform 2; a ‘Castle’ with an up service on Platform 1; and miscellaneous vans in the Station Yard. The signals are still mainly of GWR wooden vintage, though the one nearest to the long rake has been changed for tubular steel and new concrete lamp standards have been erected along the sea wall. 5#####D01-PNZ-STATN-VI_SW
This is a strange inclusion, but the sign centred on this carriage reads “STORES VAN TO PENZANCE”, so it has some relevance. Taken at Swindon in March 1950, it must have been an unusual relic even then. 5003#AA01-UNK-COACH-PARKD
The crew of the station pilot take their ease watching the view on a hot day next to their loco, pannier tank 8409. One end of the engine is attached to a carriage, and the other the shunter’s wagon or “chariot”. 520614A01-PNZ-s8409-PILOT
A peaceful scene from the redundant drinking fountain on top of the cliff at Penzance Station south west across to the harbour in 1954, as waves gently roll in. A parcels van, with a plethora of roof ventilators, is isolated on the Pilot’s siding. 54###AB01-PNZ-G_VAN-PARKD
A rather damp and dismal day at Penzance Station in the late 1950s – where maroon coaching stock awaits use in most of the platforms. The rear of the set in the centre of the picture has a barier panel added to seal the corridor connection, but by the time I was trainspotting this practice had been generally discontinued. 5####CW01-PNZ-STATN-VI_SW
This 1960 view of Platform 1 shows 4564 ready to remove empty stock, once the doors have been pushed shut and permissions given. These larger engines seemed to sometimes replace the smaller pannier tanks on such under-powered duties. 601026A01-PNZ-s4564-SHU_S
Faces peer over the sea wall and the loco crew lean out of their cab as 8409 gently steams away at the end of a rake of carriages it is soon to remove from Platform 1 of Penzance Station. Between the engine and the carriages is the shunter’s truck – a mode of transport for convenience of the shunting staff as they move from place to place, and their tool store. Photo: Norman Preedy. 510829A01-PNZ-s8409-SHNTG
This letterbox in the side of a mail train carriage was the last chance people had to post their letter each day. I used the facility myself a few times, and my relief that “I’d made it” on one occasion after running from home was palpable! 6####FQ01-PNZ-MAI_U-L_BOX
4148 waits at the front of a formation of carriages on Platform 2 of Penzance Station as a smaller sister engages itself similarly in Platform 1, with passengers coming and going from both. Smoke indicates a third loco is in the siding beside the goods platforms. 5#####A01-PNZ-s4148-PAS_U
4566 chuffs away from the stop blocks in Platform 3 of Penzance Station, using the crossover to skirt around the rake of coaches it has brought in. The tower for changing the bulbs of the hanging lights is just inside shelter of the station entrance. Copyright: Lens of Sutton. 5####AA01-PNZ-s4566-LIG_U
With safety valves lifting and smoke drifting northwards,the driver of 2-6-2T4548 whiles away the time as it awaits departure alongside 6965 THIRLESTAINE HALL”, similarly waiting. The different design of front end numbers show the picture was taken in the early days of nationalisation. Photo: Lens of Sutton. 5####AD01-PNZ-s45##-LIGHT
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The “gem” of my collection so far, I think, as a double headed express pulls away from Penzance Station in the early 1900s with steam and smoke spreading everywhere. The original signal box – rarely seen in remaining photographs – is nearly opposite single line token equipment, and a brave man ascends a precarious ladder to the cable runs on the wall. 10####A02-PNZ-S_LCO-PAS_U
GWR steam locomotive 0-4-4 Tank No. 34 stands on the turntable between the shed and coaling stage at Chyandour. The view through the handrail on the right shows the front of a loco, backed in for filling its coal bunker. #####AJ01-PNZ-s0034-TURNT
Congestion of Penzance Station’s entry point is obvious in this 1899 view of two locomotives behind 3273 “ARMOREL” on the extended turntable, with two men winding, and just clearing a coach’s buffers and the loco’s coal tender. 99###AA01-PNZ-s3273-TURNT
Another view of the GWR Duke class 4-4-0 ‘ARMOREL’ that straddles the turntable at Penzance’s coaling stage, which was tucked in to the Penzance side of Chyandour brook. The ladder leads up to a water tank situated on top of the shed roof. 99###AA02-PNZ-s3273-TURNT
Four proud workmen pose before 4-4-0 No. 3270 “TREVITHICK”. The diagonal course of stone and cable follow the descent of the road behind, and the handles on the turntable might be for “fine tuning” if the winding doesn’t match up well enough. #####AQ01-PNZ-s3270-TURNT
There seems to be a brand-new connecting rod on 3350 “SWIFT”, a 4-4-0 in the hands of a walrus-moustached driver and his fireman. Before the loco and beside the turntable end is what seems to be an ablution area, with hooked post for a hose. #####AK01-CYR-s3350-PARKD
A railway worker sucks on a cigarette beside what seems to be a clerestory-roofed railmotor at Penzance in the period before the station was remodelled. A different worker, a fish porter and the guard all have their attention taken by someone further back towards the town, and a stack of fish baskets is at platform centre. 36##AC01-PNZ-R_MTR-PAS_U
Waves from the Great Storm of 1930 mount up, surge and pound the walls of the railway as a goods train cautiously picks its way out of the station, sheltering a rake of carriages as it does so. The trackbed is saturated with standing water. 3011#AA01-PNZ-WALLS-VI_NE
Out of steam, 3401 ‘VANCOUVER’ is hauled shedwards past the original short arrivals platform at Penzance Station. Stove-enameled signs are fixed to the cliff wall, and the loco’s nameplate surprisingly shows poor casting. r.blencowe@ntlworld.com 5####AQ01-PNZ-s3401-LIG_U
A special visit creates a lot of interest from both platform and the station wall as 3440 “CITY OF TRURO” waits for its return journey eastwards. Its headcode lights are scrupulously clean and stand out well. 5####CT01-PNZ-s3440-PAS_U
Steam from shunter 9475 partially obscures a ‘Warship Class” diesel, backing out chocolate and cream stock on a sunny early evening at Penzance Station, watched by a man and child. The station “chariot” for shunting staff accompanies it, and maroon stock that will be temporary stored elsewhere. The old and new signals beside it show faded and glossy paint finishes. 6####IY06-PNZ-s9475-SHNTG
This view of Penzance Station shows a long rake of coaches on Platform 2; a ‘Castle’ with an up service on Platform 1; and miscellaneous vans in the Station Yard. The signals are still mainly of GWR wooden vintage, though the one nearest to the long rake has been changed for tubular steel and new concrete lamp standards have been erected along the sea wall. 5#####D01-PNZ-STATN-VI_SW
This is a strange inclusion, but the sign centred on this carriage reads “STORES VAN TO PENZANCE”, so it has some relevance. Taken at Swindon in March 1950, it must have been an unusual relic even then. 5003#AA01-UNK-COACH-PARKD
The crew of the station pilot take their ease watching the view on a hot day next to their loco, pannier tank 8409. One end of the engine is attached to a carriage, and the other the shunter’s wagon or “chariot”. 520614A01-PNZ-s8409-PILOT
A peaceful scene from the redundant drinking fountain on top of the cliff at Penzance Station south west across to the harbour in 1954, as waves gently roll in. A parcels van, with a plethora of roof ventilators, is isolated on the Pilot’s siding. 54###AB01-PNZ-G_VAN-PARKD
A rather damp and dismal day at Penzance Station in the late 1950s – where maroon coaching stock awaits use in most of the platforms. The rear of the set in the centre of the picture has a barier panel added to seal the corridor connection, but by the time I was trainspotting this practice had been generally discontinued. 5####CW01-PNZ-STATN-VI_SW
This 1960 view of Platform 1 shows 4564 ready to remove empty stock, once the doors have been pushed shut and permissions given. These larger engines seemed to sometimes replace the smaller pannier tanks on such under-powered duties. 601026A01-PNZ-s4564-SHU_S
Faces peer over the sea wall and the loco crew lean out of their cab as 8409 gently steams away at the end of a rake of carriages it is soon to remove from Platform 1 of Penzance Station. Between the engine and the carriages is the shunter’s truck – a mode of transport for convenience of the shunting staff as they move from place to place, and their tool store. Photo: Norman Preedy. 510829A01-PNZ-s8409-SHNTG
This letterbox in the side of a mail train carriage was the last chance people had to post their letter each day. I used the facility myself a few times, and my relief that “I’d made it” on one occasion after running from home was palpable! 6####FQ01-PNZ-MAI_U-L_BOX
4148 waits at the front of a formation of carriages on Platform 2 of Penzance Station as a smaller sister engages itself similarly in Platform 1, with passengers coming and going from both. Smoke indicates a third loco is in the siding beside the goods platforms. 5#####A01-PNZ-s4148-PAS_U
4566 chuffs away from the stop blocks in Platform 3 of Penzance Station, using the crossover to skirt around the rake of coaches it has brought in. The tower for changing the bulbs of the hanging lights is just inside shelter of the station entrance. Copyright: Lens of Sutton. 5####AA01-PNZ-s4566-LIG_U
With safety valves lifting and smoke drifting northwards,the driver of 2-6-2T4548 whiles away the time as it awaits departure alongside 6965 THIRLESTAINE HALL”, similarly waiting. The different design of front end numbers show the picture was taken in the early days of nationalisation. Photo: Lens of Sutton. 5####AD01-PNZ-s45##-LIGHT
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The Eric Curnow Collection 