OLD PLYMOUTH . UK
Plus parts of the South Hams and West Devon
www.oldplymouth.uk
 

RAILWAYS IN OLD PLYMOUTH  |  LAUNCESTON BRANCH
BRANCH LINE, PLYMOUTH STATION (MILLBAY) TO LAUNCESTON STATION

WHITCHURCH DOWN PLATFORM

A  favourite trick question in railway quizzes has always been "If Whitchurch Down Platform was on the Launceston Branch, where was Whitchurch Up Platform?"

The answer is that there has never been one because the Platform took its name from the nearby Whitchurch Down and was thus not the Down platform for the village of Whitchurch.

It was opened at 11 miles 65 chains mile post mileage from Tavistock Junction by the Great Western Railway Company on September 1st 1906 and was staffed until April 1956.

On Weekdays and Sundays, 'where train service permits', commencing on May 1st 1953, the following cheap day return tickets, first and third class, were available from Whitchurch Down Platform to: Coryton, 4 shillings (s) 6 pence (d) 1st, 3s 3rd; Devonport Albert Road, 5s 3d 1st, 3s 6d 3rd; Keyham, 5s 9d 1st, 3s 9d 3rd; Launceston, 6s 9d 1st, 4s 6d 3rd; Lifton, 5s 3d 1st, 3s 6d 3rd; Lydford BRWR, 2s 9d 1st, 1s 9d 3rd; Marsh Mills, 4s 1st, 2s 9d 3rd; Plymouth North Road Station, 5s 3d 1st, 3s 6d 3rd; Princetown, 5s 3d 1st, 3s 6d 3rd; Saltash, 6s 6d 1st, 4s 3d 3rd; and Shaugh Bridge Platform, 2s 6d 1st, 1s 8d, 3rd.

According to the "The Official Hand-book of Station 1956" Whitchurch Down Platform dealt only with passenger traffic.

Whitchurch Down Platform was closed tp passenger traffic on and as from December 31st 1962, when the Launceston Branch closed.