John

GJG John is going to be giving you loads of kisses those video clips give him a lot of extra referance material im sure he will be ordering the full video from the focal group.

cheers Brian

Wow…..!!!:shock:

I don't know about kisses,but that last film showing the last train into Perranporth and the line being lifted nearly made a grown man cry…..but you're right about one thing…I've got to get me that DVD!!!
   Another thing arising from that…the number of people on that train ALL seemingly packing cameras,leads me to think that maybe there's even MORE stuff "out there" just waiting for me to find….

:hmm

Cheers,John.B.:thumbs

John

Here are piccys of bolingey bridge







Now here a a couple of the abutments that remain of the station road bridge the first you can see where demolition has taken place.

#on the second photo note the 2 angled face bricks that remain if it was brick built it would mean by the angle of them that the arch was actually shallower than the bolingey one.

i will have to grab Trevor to confirm it was brick and not a steel plate one







cheers Brian

Thanks for a series of good clear pics Brian.  The "Merry Christmas" sign on the second one is a nice touch and is that a string of fairy lights across the stonework on the top one as well?

Always knew there was fairies down Bolingey :thumbs

Rick

yes it is definately a string of fairy lights not sure where they are plugging it in thou.

The Bolingey Inn is still there its one of those pubs that has not changed at all in a very long time

I went to a birthday party there a few months ago and it was a pleasure to go into real old fashioned pub .

I think many of the pubs today have lost that pub feeling and are dolled up to attact yuppies and the very young.

cheers Brian

I would guess it probably was an arch as if it was the girder type the wall would have been straight and would not have need demolition like that?

Wow,
       I can't believe that I've posted nothing on this thread since December 2009!!!!:It's a no no
I'll set that straight in the next few days,and we'll carry on along our journey to Newquay.
The way this thread is going,the layout will be finished first!!

Cheers,John.B.:thumbs

Hi All,
      I was browsing the internet when I stumbled upon this thread which took me back about 50 years as a young boy when I used to travel on this branch line with my mother, to visit relations and friends at the villages served by the little halts from Goonbell to Goonhavern. I have quite vivid memories which I would share with you if you are interested.

Hiya Manxie,
                Thanks for your post and messages.It's nice to know someone else is interested in this old line.I DO have more material to add,and will be doing so in the coming weeks.If you yourself have any pictures,info,anecdotes…whatever,please feel free to add them in the meantime.
                As for the layout,work is progressing,albeit very slowly.My daughter is getting married this year,so I don't have as much time for modelling as I would like.I will,however be posting a few pictures soon on a little corner that I've been working on that is nearing completion,so it should provide some idea as to how the layout will develop.
                Once again,thanks for the interest.

Cheers,John.B.:thumbs

As a young boy I used to travel on this line in the late 1950's early 60's, with my late mother to visit relations and friends.

We would leave Penmere Halt, Falmouth, to Truro, where we would change trains to Chacewater, where we would then change again onto the Newquay branch line.

First halt we would get off would be Goonbell, the place where my mother was born in 1921 to visit her sister who lived a short distance from the halt.

My mother also lived at Wheal Butson from 1935 to 1947 in a small cottage beside the Wheal Liberty Viaduct(Goonbell viaduct). I believe this was the last viaduct to be built in Cornwall.

She told me stories of how she used to walk along the line with her sisters to catch the train at Goonbell, and if they were a little late the engine driver would see them and wait at the halt for them to get on board. I can't imagine that happening today if the line was still open.

Sometimes when the train passed their cottage, the fireman would throw out a couple of bucket loads of coal down the embankment, which my mother, brother and sisters would collect and take home because they did not have a lot of money in those days, and every little helped.

Mothers youngest sister often sat on the viaduct waiting for the train.

Next halt was Mithian, where I had an aunt who had a small holding right beside the railway line.
When we used to leave to go home sometimes it was dark, and it was very spooky waiting at the halt for the train with just oil lamps as light. I can see the train now in my mind, with a red light in the distance gradually getting bigger as the train approached the halt. The engine would pull the train in reverse in the Chacewater direction, and frontwards in the Newquay direction.

Next would be Perranpoth Beach Halt, where as you know the platform is now in Falmouth at "The Dell", where I still live.

Perranporth Station has special memories for me, as we used to live next door in Bolingey,Perranporth 1953, to Charlie Chubb who was a porter at the station, and when we used to get off at Perranpoth Station I remember going down the steps from the centre platform, which had white tiled walls and ceiling.

On returning to the station after visiting friends, Charlie Chubb would sometimes take me up in the signal box, and watch the  signal man pulling on the big levers which were polished brass with a duster in his hand. The engine would also take on water at Perranporth if my memory serves me correctly.

But the best thing for me was to hold the metal staff with a ring on the end when the train came in which the fireman or driver would take as he passed me before stopping.

I believe that the train could not go without the staff on to the single line, as a safety measure.

Next stop was Goonhavern, where I had another aunt, and that is how far I went towards Newquay.

They still say today, that "Butcher Beeching" should never have axed this much loved and popular line, which I believe did make a profit, especially during the summer months.

I never did travel on the diesel trains on this line.

I occasionally go out in my car in the St.Agnes area, and think about the old railway and my mother of which I have many happy memories.



Some great pictures here.
http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/cornwall-railway-gallery-branches-west.html

Wow,some fantastic stories there Manxie!! And I love that second link to all those photos.Most of those I've never seen!!!(Although sad to see the line actually being lifted…)
 Thank you very much for sharing them,and if you remember any more,please don't hesitate to post them because memories of this line are like gold dust to me.Likewise with pictures!!!;-)

Cheers,John.B.:thumbs

Stories for us all to enjoy - thanks for posting, Manxie.

Yes, lovely tales, thank you.

Ken

Thanks for your kind comments.
Next time I go out St.Agnes I will take some pics and post them here.

Below is a picture on my living room wall I had given to me several years ago by Ken Miners who lived in a bungalow across the road from the now disappeared Mithian Halt. It shows the train pulling into Mithian Halt in the Chacewater direction.

I think it is a lovely picture, of how I remember it.

There is more colour to it than the camera is showing because I am not using a flash.

[user=201]georgejacksongenius[/user] wrote:

Wow,some fantastic stories there Manxie!! And I love that second link to all those photos.Most of those I've never seen!!!(Although sad to see the line actually being lifted…)

There is a man called Clive Benney from St.Agnes who sometimes gives a slide show and talk on the Chacewater to Newquay Line.

It is very interesting showing many rare slides starting with the line being built by mainly Irish workers, and finishing up with the line being ripped up, which is heartbreaking.

Manxie,
          There was a John Miners who was a signalman at Perranporth in the early days of the line.His son,Trevor Miners(now an old man) helps out at Perranporth museum.I wonder if they were any relation to your Ken Miners???
          I realise that Miners is a fairly common local name…

Cheers,John.B.:thumbs

I believe I know Trevor Miners in Perranporth. If my facts are correct he was a Beven Boy during World War 2.

Whether he was related to Ken Miners who was a farmer in Goshan,Mithian, before he moved up by the halt when he retired,I don't know, but I can find out.

As for model railways, as a youngster I had a 1953 Triang Train set, which belonged to my older brother.

I remember the engine was Princess Elizabeth 2nd, with a coal tender and 2 carriages. The track was oval and grey in colour, and was in a plain red box with I believe a white label on the front stating what was inside. It also had a grey metal transformer.

How much would that be worth now, if I still had it in the original box?

I was watching Bargain Hunt the other night and a tin plate Hornby signal box made by Meccano went for about twenty quid, so a whole set would be worth a motza.

It often surprises me how little many of these old train sets are worth now.  In real terms, far less than they cost new.  I suppose that's the downside of mass production ………………

But then, for some reason, many of the Wrenn models are worth a small fortune …………:roll: