Plymouth Millbay Road Railway Station

October 20, 2025
1:12 pm

Millbay Staton was where the Plymouth to Launceston railway originally started.

It was situated between Union Street and Millbay.

History

Plymouth Millbay Station was the original railway terminus in Plymouth, Devon. Originally built in 1849 by the South Devon Railway, who had originally planned to bring is broad gauge from Exeter St David’s.

On May 5, 1848, the line reached a temporary station at Laira, then extended to Millbay on April 2, 1849. With no other stations at the time, people called it Plymouth, later Plymouth Millbay, as more stations opened.

This was Millbay in all it’s glory, originally the terminus of the South Devon Railway. Image by Anthony Kingdom.

On May 4, 1859, workers expanded the station for the Cornwall Railway’s opening, which later extended the line to Tavistock and Launceston.

In 1962, the South Devon and Tavistock Railway encouraged the private venture, with the Plymouth Hotel Company, to open the Duke of Cornwall opposite the station 1862.

On February 1, 1876, the South Devon Railway merged with the GWR, and workers converted the line to standard gauge.

Converting the gauge, 21 May 1892. – Image by unknown, taken from Wiki.

From 1900 to 1903, builders reconstructed Mutley Station, replacing the old wooden structures with a new stone terminus. The station closed to passengers on April 23, 1941, after the war destroyed the goods yard.

GWR 0-6-0 Broad Gauge loco No. 2157 “Buckley” sold to SDR in 1872. Photographed by Millbay MPD, by the late J B N Ashford.

All traffic ceased on the 14^th Dec 1969, apart from trains running via the docks, which continued until 30^th June 1971.

This was the inside of Millbay Station, which was less impressive than the main building, circa 1912. Image by L & GRP.

Now the Then

I haven’t been able to get back to Plymouth for a while. These images are from Google Maps, but it shows where the station would have been.

All you can see today is where the runoff road was, but the area is now the Plymouth Pavilions.

A huge thank you to Anthony Kingdom for letting me use the images from his books The Plymouth to Tavistock and Launceston Railway and The Plymouth to Yealmpton Railway. Some of the information was taken from Wiki about the Millbay Station.

There is a full video, Plymouth to Launceston via Tavistock South, which you can see on my YouTube channel.

YouTube

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