By the 70s, “I’m going off to the engine sheds!” was an automatic and accepted statement, and fine as long as I was back in time for the next meal. Most of my friends’ interests dwindled away, and after a few years I’d be a solitary figure quickly skirting the station yard, walking the station walls and trudging along the sea path to the sheds. It was a great way to be alone with one’s own thoughts, get exercise and appreciate natural beauty and my interest. The stretch through Ponsandane was obviously the longest of the sections I passed through.
Beyond the station I was relatively exposed to whatever vagaries the weather had in mind, and regardless of how the day started out, I could be showered with hail, soaked with rain, blasted with the wind or sweating from the sun. Occasionally I’d have the resources to buy a quarter of sweets from “Boshers” on The Terrace, and try to make them last as long as possible on these journeys. ‘Midget Gems’, “Cough Candy Twist”, “Kop Kops” and even “Fisherman’s Friends” were the normal purchases – selected for their longevity, rather than necessarily for their taste!
The name of ‘Bolitho’ was synonymous with “important land owner”, and someone to be respected and slightly feared in Penzance when I was growing up. One of their properties was ‘Ponsandane House’ overlooking the foreshore just outside the station – where trees they had planted screened the railway, but left a view across the bay to the Mount. My father told me why Ponsandane Signal Box had a flat roof quite early on – it was so as not to impede the family’s view of St Michael’s Mount – and I thought someone with the power to dictate such matters was best avoided.
After the ‘Three Tunnels’ at Chyandour, the raised walkway was a relief to reach on my forays east as I knew I was not trespassing, because it was outside the boundary fence. All sorts of debris washed in by the sea and blown inland congregated along this fence, and it was occasionally festooned with seaweed, lumps of tar, and plastic detritus. The walk varied from grass-covered sand dunes to stretches of boggy sand, with the inevitable dip at Ponsandane crossing. Walking so close to the line made the sound of the wind whipping through the telegraph wires a frequent backdrop, and the path often vibrated as a train thundered by. Occasional forays down to the sea to walk as close as possible while avoiding the gently spreading sheets of water would be broken by a rush to the line when a horn sounded or a signal dropped.
This view of the stretch of the coast from Penzance to Long Rock was taken from high up on ‘Hotel Royale’ – built in the 1930s with a confidence that the town would boom as a holiday destination. Open fields can be seen to the left of the railway. 6###GK01-PDN-COAST-VI__E
This early postcard image shows an up train about to pass over Trevarrack stream on the old viaduct at Ponsandane. A retaining wall has been built behind it, plus a temporary wire and post fence. Printed by: The Locomotive Publishing Company (defunct). #####AB01-PDN-s####-PAS_U
The driver and fireman lean from the same side of the cab of an 0-6-0 tender loco as it approaches the seaward end of Trevaylor Stream with an outbound mixed train. It is crossing the low wooden viaduct in the days before that replacement by an embankment. #####BD01-PDN-LOCO-PAS_U
All eyes are on the arrival passing Ponsandane Signal Box, its external appearance a credit to the GWR. As yet there are no buildings along the approach road to the crossing and the profile of the sea side cutting is still geometric, and not weathered. ########-PDN-STEAM-PAS_D
The mix of trees planted to screen the railway from Ponsandane House seem to have been chosen to ensure the view across to St Michael’s Mount is presented to best effect, this 1950s ‘Sweetman’ postcard view from the house shows. The stock of the Traveling Post Office is partially concealed in Sloper’s Siding. 50###AA01-PON-COACH-VI_SE
The other side of the wall shows a 1970s view of the earthwork built up to the wall, and bushes planted to make the outlook more pleasant. A Royal Blue tour bus drops off passengers in the cool of the evening as puffy Cumulus clouds crowd the sky. 70###AB01-PDN-COACH-PARKD
6825 ‘LLANVAIR GRANGE’ careers the last quarter of a mile through Ponsandane with a town passenger train. A low wooden retaining wall stops the lineside bank encroaching on the track and a granite wall and trees lie the other side of a deserted A30. 5####AW01-PDN-s6825-PAS_D
An enlarged portion of the picture above shows the fireman of the Long Rock allocated locomotive keeping a close watch for obstructions ahead. The other side of the road sign beside the locomotive’s smokebox reads ‘Welcome to Penzance’. 5####AW01-PDN-s6825-PAS_D
The ‘doyen’ of the class – 7801 “ANTHONY MANOR” – replete with “light engine” headcode, sets back into a train of a hotchpotch of vans at the crossover just east of Ponsandane Signal Box. It oozes steam and is in a half cleaned condition – its buffer beam number now rather faded. Nationalisation occurred 9 months earlier, but has yet to make an impression here. 480901A01-PON-s7801-SHNTG
With a Penzance ’83G’ shedplate on its smokebox, 6816 “FRANKTON GRANGE” crosses closed points as it shunts stock past Ponsandane platforms on 25th Aug 1956. The fireman is wrapped in his own thoughts as he watches “his side of the train”. 560825A01-PDN-s6816-E_C_S
6823 “OAKLEY GRANGE” shunts out e.c.s. at Ponsandane. The concrete post fence has been rebuilt beside the walkway and granite boulders placed on the seaward side. On the horizon, smoke billows from Long Rock shed. 590824A01-PDN-s6823-PAS_D
An enlarged portion of the picture above gives a better view of the watchful eye of the fireman as the loco – badly in need of cleaning – moves the 6-carriage train of empty coaching stock towards Ponsandane Crossing on 24th August 1959. 590824A01-PDN-s6823-PAS_D
6817 “GWENDDYR GRANGE” hauls a coach towards Ponsandane Crossing in 1951 – amply powered for this task, but likely to have stock added behind it as it makes its way up line. Behind it, the land belonging to Ponsandane House is luxuriant, and before it the cutting side is resplendent with wild flowers. In the far background TPO stock waits in Sloper’s Siding. 51###AC01-PON-s6817-GDS_U
The ‘home’ is ‘off’ and the ‘distant’ ‘on’ as 5040 “STOKESAY CASTLE” rushes past the goods shed at Ponsandane with an up passenger service. To its right is a restaurant coach, and left the photographer’s bike parked against a telegraph pole stantion. The loco is nicely caught in fairly-sharp focus, while the background is blurred – adding to the illusion of speed. 5####CY01-PDN-s5040-PAS_U
I often got excited by a D167X number as it probably was a ‘namer’, but the last two of the sequence just missed out carrying them. Here D1679 runs the last few hundred yards towards the station past milepost 326/1, which I salvaged from a refuse fire just over the sea wall by Penzance Signal Box close by. 720530A01-PDN-D1679-PAS_D
The vegetation in this slide seems very parched as unusual visitor 47201 passes through Ponsandane in the hot Summer of 1976, its headcode turned to “zeros”, hauling an up passenger service. Although the drought made cleaning difficult, a rake of very presentable sleeping cars awaits reuse in adjacent Sloper’s Siding, the yellow stripe indicating first class provision. 76###AN01-PDN-47201-PAS_U
Large logo liveried 50015 “Valiant” passes the raised granite walkway at Ponsandane on the afternoon of 21st September 1986 – its spotlight breaking its front end shadow and surroundings in mellow brown and green. On the right of the picture is the edge of Ponsandane House – no longer the family home of the Bolithos, but at that time a nursing home. 860921A01-PON-55015-PAS_U
Holiday-makers enjoy the sun on the beach at Ponsandane and wait either side of the automated crossing as D1001 “WESTERN PATHFINDER” passes with a down passenger train on 14th August 1976. Its headcode has been wound to zeros, and someone leans from the carriage to take in the remarkable view – now sadly marred by high sea defences. 76###AK01-PNZ-D1001-PAS_D
The fireman of 6931 “ALBEBOROUGH HALL” stands on points rodding, peering towards Ponsandane Box as his local parcels service is halted on the down main. The loco has a Truro shed plate on its front end, and is hauling a real mixture of stock, including a broccoli wagon. Copyright: Stan Brown/Keith Jones. 5####CE01-PON-s6931-GDS_D
As it’s a Penzance-allocated loco, it is surprising that 5058 “EARL OF CLANCARTY” isn’t in better external condition as it leads an up passenger through Ponsandane. Wooden keys have been replaced by metal springs in trackwork chairs just ahead if it. 6####AP01-PDN-s5058-PAS_U
No doubt the crew of D600 “ACTIVE” are full of pride at moving this new monster replacement for the hard graft of coaxing a steam loco from A to B. The engine runs out of Ponsandane Yard onto the down main past stored rolling stock packing the lines. 58###BF01-PDN—D600-LIG_D
Boarders are ushered towards their flight at Penzance Heliport in 1966. In the background is Ponsandane Yard where a Class 08 shunter is parked before the Shunter’s Mess, next to stock-filled sidings. The pitched roof building nearby is a store. 660507A01-PDN-HCPTR-PARKD
Ponsandane goods platforms are packed with stock as normal, with space always being at a premium at the terminus of the railway. The Cressars come into view offshore as the Scilly helicopter rises, and even Mousehole Island can be seen on the horizon. 660507A02-PDN-SDNGS-VI__S
Looking down from the helicopter, trucks, carriages and vans are all laid out below at Ponsandane, as a Ford Anglia is driven towards Penzance. The width of the platforms as well as their length was welcome as local businesses brought their stock for loading. 660507A03-PDN-G_YRD-VI__S
A fuel hose is run out and a baggage trolley is wheeled up against a Sikorsky helicopter on the apron at Ponsandane, with railway vans parked in the goods yard behind. Between it and the boundary fencing runs the A30 from London to Lands End. 6####GE01-PDN-HCPTR-PARKD
Carriage-heating unit TDB (Traffic, Departmental, BR) 968008 – ex-Sulzer Type 2 loco 24054 is pictured next to the main lines at Ponsandane. Behind is the roof of the shunter’s mess, and, beyond the yard, open fields and woods. There is new signalling in the foreground, but as yet no bi-directional main line. 770410A01-PDN-TDB24-PARKD
A few years since arriving in works condition to herald the arrival of the class on Long Rock Depot, 50045 – still an impressive sight, and now with “Achilles” nameplates – moves off the bi-directional track before Ponsandane Goods Shed towards Penzance. 7809#####-PDN-50045-LIGHT
The Eric Curnow Collection 