Plymouth North Road is still a very active station and hub in Plymouth. This post will only go over a small part of the history of station, but has some exclusive archive movie footage at the end.
This station, was one of many, on the Plymouth to Launceston railway line. We started with Millbay Station, so next, we move on to North Road.
History of North Road
Taken some time before the rebuild in 1938. Is that the Launceston train at platform 6? Image by Lens of Sutton
North Road station, but looking west towards Millbay, taken circa 1921. Image by L&GRP
A study of the turntable constructed in 1912 and situated to the west of North Road Station. It clearly shows the three access roads and the siding. The lines running from the centre, to the right of the image, are those to and from Millbay, and North Road West signal box can be seen in the middle distance. Image by W. E. Stevens.
Class T1 no. 9 leaves platform 2 with the 11:59 Bere Alston to Plymouth Friary service on 23rd May 1935. Planning for the re-building of the station started that year. Note the ‘Plymouth Gate’ stock and the 1908 East Box. Image by H. C. Casserley.
After 1908, the station had four through platforms lines but six through platforms as the outer two tracks each had two faces. One on the left is No. 3, which was the down island platform. Class M7 0-4-4T no. 24 is working the Plymouth Friary to Tavistock on the 30th Aug 1945. Image by H. C. Casserley.
Widening
Widening of the road bridge west of the station involved moving the 1904 West Box bodily northwards in January 1938. Seven through platforms and four parcel docks were created. West Box is on the right of this July 1956 westward view. Image by R. C. Riley.
The main timber structure was inappropriate to serve the city’s main and, eventually, only station. Rebuilding started in 1938, recommenced after the war in 1956 and was completed in 1962. The suffix ‘North’ was in use until 14th Sept 1958. Image by Lens of Sutton.
The stone arch seen in this picture was replaced with three concrete spans in 1938. Nearby is East Box which was in use from 25th June 139 until 26th November 1960. Colour light signals are ready for commissioning as no. 41317 proceed to Tavistock North on 14th May 1960. Image by D. Dart.
Class N 2-6-0 no. 31834 waits to leave from platform 2 with the 10:02am to Okehampton on the 3rd April 1964. Ten years later, the centre parts of through lines at platform 2 and 3 were removed and four bay platforms were formed, only with western part of no. 3 being used for passengers. Image by L. W. Rowe.
Steam at Plymouth North Road
Over the years, we have collected a lot of movie footage of steam from around the South West. Here is some exclusive movie footage of steam at North Road.
North Road Today
I haven’t had the chance to get to Plymouth for a while, but when I do, I will head to the station to get some new photos.
According to Wikipedia, the station is in constant use, the passenger numbers, for a 20 year period:
- Passengers 2002 – 1,431,674
- Passengers 2019 – 2,496,288
I couldn’t find accurate number for the past few years, but you can imagine it’s still a rising number.
Both these images were taken from the back of Glen Park Avenue. The ‘then’ photo was taken in 1912, the ‘now’ photos, from Google Maps, is taken over 100 years later.
There is a wonderful sense of irony in these two images, seeing steam at North Road, again, taken almost 100 years apart. In the background is the road bridge on Sutherland Road.
As I said, I will down to Plymouth and get some more modern photos, and some aerial shots, when I can.
A huge thank you to Anthony Kingdom for the used of images from his book The Plymouth to Tavistock and Launceston Railway. A thank you to Middleton Press for the images from their book, Tavistock to Plymouth, which can be purchased HERE.
Next Up
The next station on from North Road is Mutley, which was the next on the line of the Plymouth to Launceston Railway. Sadly, it might be a little while, as I have another operation on my elbow. I broke it at the beginning of Oct, then managed to break it in another place. Make sure you sign up for the newsletter and I’ll let you know when it’s all ready.
