Tag: Liskeard

Cornwall – Penzance 3: The Journey Home

An account of my return journey from Penzance to Liskeard to bring the Penzance ‘series within a series’ to a conclusion.

I am writing this post from a hotel room in Plymouth where I am spending the last night of my excursion, due to a mix up over holiday dates (I booked my train tickets based on my parents flying out to Crete tomorrow, whereas they are actually doing so today). I will cover the events of today in considerable detail in a later post. Suffice it to say for the moment that I am happy with my room. For today I complete my coverage of my excursion to Penzance with an account of the return journey.

PENZANCE TO LISKEARD

While I was heading east from Penzance to Liskeard my sisters was heading westwards towards Plymouth, from where she would be picked up. In the event although my train reached Liskeard some while after hers reached Plymouth I was back at Fort Picklecombe first due to the shorter journey from Liskeard as compared to Plymouth. There were two short stoppages on my journey from Penzance to Liskeard, but overall it was a smooth run. I got some good pictures along the way.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are the photographs from the return journey…

The photos from the return journey start here.
Truro Cathedral in as much of its glory as can be captured through a train window.

Cornwall: Penzance 1 – The Journey There

Starting a series-within-a-series about my trip to Penzance yesterday. This post deals with the train journey there.

The weather here in Cornwall is much improved from Sunday, an improvement which started yesterday afternoon, while I was visiting Penzance. This post is the first of three I shall be producing, covering Liskeard to the just before arrival in Penzance (Penzance station will feature as the starting point of the third post, about the journey back).

A COUPLE OF MINOR IRRITATIONS

My original plan had to been to catch the 10:33 out of St Germans, but unfortunately that had to be readjusted to catching the 11:12 out of Liskeard as we did not have time to get to St Germans for the earlier train. At Liskeard I joined a small queue for the ticket office (I was third in line at that stage, with two more people having joined the queue by the time the first customer had been dealt with, a mere trifle of 17 minutes later). I still had ample time after completing my purchase of a return to Penzance (fortunately the second customer in the queue was quick, as I was) to get down to the platform and take some pictures at platform level before the train came in (Liskeard has a slightly curious layout, with platforms 1 and 2 both being approached by way of a footbridge, while platform 3 which is the terminus of a minor branch line to Looe is approached by a separate footpath and is at 90 degree angle to the other two platforms).

A SMOOTH JOURNEY

The journey from Liskeard to Penzance passed smoothly, though with the usual frustrations for a photographer in motion of failed shots due to misjudging the precise moment at which to click the shutter to capture the target. I arrived into Penzance at about 12:50 and was ready for the next stage of the day, which will covered in my next post.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here is the picture gallery for this post…

The final approach to Penzance (station building at front of shot).

The Journey To Penzance

An account of the journey to Penzance, setting the scene for my next post, about Penzance itself.

INTRODUCTION

This is continuing my account of my visit to Cornwall. We have reached Saturday, which for me featured a trip to England’s westernmost commercial railway station (note England not Britain – Arisaig on the Glasgow-Mallaig line in Scotland is further west), Penzance. The closest station in time terms to my parent’s new home is St Germans, and that is where my train journey started.

ST GERMANS

St Germans is completely unstaffed, and therefore, since there is no one to maintain it, has no ticket machines either. Tickets are purchased from the conductor once you are on the train. You are only allowed to do this at unstaffed stations – boarding without a ticket at a station where you can purchase one renders you liable to a penalty fare of £20 (I heard another passenger who had done this escaping with a warning not to do it again).

I had a bit of time at St Germans (given that the next train to call at St Germans was two hours later this was indubitably the sensible position to be in. Here are some photographs from the station…

TimetablesRoute mapSGRUGSt Germans MapSt Germans waiting areaView from the footbridgeView from the footbridge 2Holiday accommodationsgrug@btinternet.comHelp Point, St GermansHoliday accommodation IISt GermansDisplay, waiting area, St Germans

GWR

www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk

The ticket issued by the onboard conductor is much bigger than a standard train ticket. 

Tickets

THE JOURNEY TO PENZANCE

Taking pictures through the windows of a moving train is not especially easy, although I did at least have a window seat for the entire journey, so was never shooting across people. After leaving St Germans the train called at Liskeard (change for the Looe branch line), Bodmin Parkway, Lostwithiel (although the name might suggets otherwise as far as I am aware no elves live here!), Par (trains to Newquay depart from here), St Austell, Truro (Falmouth services diverge here), Redruth, Camborne, Hayle, St Erth (branch line to St Ives from here) and Penzance. Here are the pictures from this journey…

View from the train, just beyond St GermansFrom the trainLiskeard through the windowLiskeard stationThrough the window IIThrough the window IIIWoodland with visitor centrebirds through the windowLostwithielLostwithiel StationDiscover LostwithielLostwithiel signNew build, LostwithielThrough the window IVParbranch line train, ParBodminBodmin IIBodmin IIIEng worksSt AustellSt Austell 2Discover the Tarka LineHouseTruro CathedralTruro Cathedral IIITruro Cathedral IVLeaving TruroTownscapeTruro (1)TruroRedruthWaiuting area, RedruthWaiting area, Redruth IICamborneCamborne IICamborne Townbench, CamborneCamborne platformHayleHayle platformPlatform InfoWHHTownscape IISt Erthapproaching PenzanceApproaching Penzance II

PENZANCE STATION

These pictures were taken both on arrival at Penzance, and towards the end of my time in Penzance.

GWR mapChanges to train times

Tiles, Penzance
This was my first effort at capturing this tile picture…

Tile Picture
…and this, later in the day, was my second and final effort.

Penzance Welcomes YouPenzance StationIncoming traintrain at Penzance stationPoppy displayThrough train to London PaddingtonPenzance Station, looking outWall picturesWay OutNational Rail MapPenzance Station 1Incoming