Coombe Junction Halt railway station

Coombe Junction Halt railway station serves the villages of Coombe and Lamellion near Liskeard, Cornwall, England, UK. It is situated on the Looe Valley Line and operated by Great Western Railway. All trains on this line have to reverse at Coombe Junction, but very few continue the short distance into the platform to allow passengers to alight or join the train.

Coombe Junction Halt
Looking towards Moorswater
Location	Coombe, Cornwall England
Coordinates	50.4449°N 4.48109°W
Grid reference	SX239635
Managed by	Great Western Railway
Platforms	1
Other information
Station code	COE
Classification	DfT category F2
Key dates
1896	Opened
Passengers
2015/16	48
2016/17	212
2017/18	156
2018/19	204
2019/20	188
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

With 26 passenger entries and exits between April 2014 and March 2015, it was the second-least used station in Great Britain, behind Shippea Hill.[1] It is one of only two stations on the National Rail network to have the designation 'halt'.

History

A 1905 Railway Clearing House Junction Diagram showing (lower right) railways in the vicinity of Coombe Junction

The Liskeard and Looe Railway was opened on 27 December 1860 to carry goods traffic; passenger trains running from 11 September 1879. The railway in those days connected with the Liskeard and Caradon Railway at Moorswater and there was no station at Coombe but a platform was provided here from 1896 and trains would call to set down passengers going to Liskeard if they notified the guard, as the steep road from Coombe to the station was considerably shorter than the route from Moorswater through Liskeard.

The extension line from Coombe Junction up to Liskeard opened for goods traffic on 25 February 1901. Passenger trains started to use this line on 15 May 1901 when Moorswater was closed to passengers. All trains called at what is now Coombe Junction station while the locomotive ran around to the south end of the train to continue the journey. The original track layout included a loop south of the station to allow two trains to pass, but from 1928 this was combined with the platform road and after this trains could only pass after the first had run round and shunted onto the through line, when the second could be allowed into the platform.

Naming

It is one of the only two stations in the National Rail Timetable to have the suffix 'halt' (the other being nearby St Keyne Wishing Well Halt). The term 'halt' was removed from British Rail timetables and station signs and other official documents by 1974; the return of the term came only for these two stations in 2008 although Coombe Junction had not previously had the "halt" designation.

The station is rendered on tickets as 'Coombe Cornwall'.

Description

Liskeard and Coombe Junction stations
Liskeard and Caradon Railway Moorswater Liskeard Cornish Main Line Coombe Junction Halt Coombe Junction Looe Valley Line

There is just a single platform, on the right of arriving trains, which can be accessed from the road at Lamellion, at the north end, or from a footpath running alongside the track from the level crossing to Coombe House, to the south.

Passenger trains have to reverse at Coombe Junction, but most do so without entering the station. The line continuing beyond the platform is used only for infrequent freight trains to the cement terminal at Moorswater, which lies just beyond the Moorswater Viaduct, which can be seen carrying the Cornish Main Line across the valley.

Signal box

An image showing the hut and lever at Coombe Number 2 Ground Frame

Coombe Junction signal box was situated on the west side of the line near the junction, but since 1981 the points have been worked by the guard of the train using two ground frames on the east side of the line. Number 1 Ground Frame is at the junction south of the station, and Number 2 Ground Frame is just north of the platform for the section to Moorswater.

Services

Coombe is served by just two trains a day in each direction Monday-Saturday. There is no Sunday service.[2]

The station used to get a more regular service back in the 1960's.[3]

Facilities

As the station is sparsely served, along with its location, the station is fairly under-facilitated, having only a basic shelter and a help-point. It used to have a payphone inside the shelter, but this has since been removed due to damage.[4]

Community rail

The railway between Liskeard and Looe is designated as a community rail line and is supported by marketing provided by the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership. The line is promoted under the "Looe Valley Line" name.

References

1. "Revealed: Britain's busiest and quietest stations". BBC News. BBC. 15 December 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
2. Table 140 National Rail timetable, May 2016
3. "cornwallrailsociety.org.uk". Cornwall Rail Society. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
4. "Coombe Junction - Least Used Station in Cornwall - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 29 December 2020.

Bibliography

• Beale, Gerry (2000). The Liskeard and Looe Branch. Didcot: Wild Swan Publications Ltd. ISBN 1-874103-47-X.
• Bennett, Alan (1990). The Great Western Railway in East Cornwall. Cheltenham: Runpast Publishing. ISBN 1-870754-11-5.
• Clinker, CR (1963). The Railways of Cornwall 1809 - 1963. Dawlish: David and Charles.
• Cooke, RA (1977). Track Layout Diagrams of the GWR and BR WR, Section 11: East Cornwall. Harwell: RA Cooke.
• MacDermot, E T (1931). History of the Great Western Railway, volume II 1863-1921. London: Great Western Railway.
• Messenger, Michael (2001). Caradon & Looe : the canal, railways and mines. Truro: Twelveheads Press. ISBN 0-906294-46-0.
• Tolson, JM; Roose, G; Whetmath, CFD (1974). Railways of Looe and Caradon. Bracknell: Forge Books.

External links

• Coombe Junction - Least Used Station in Cornwall 2017 YouTube video by Geoff Marshall about the station.