Good to be back on the Cornish Riviera Express

Two years on I am at last travelling again on the Cornish Riviera Express from Truro to London Paddington, from where I will take the Heathrow Express to the airport and then, Covid-test permitting, on to Salt Lake City tomorrow for the SME Annual Meeting, my first face to face event since the SME Meeting in Phoenix in February 2020.

Through trains from London Paddington to Penzance began running in 1867 but the Great Western Railway's Cornish Riviera Express commenced operation in 1904, after standardisation of the track gauges between Truro and London and Truro and Penzance. The 255 miles from Penzance to London is regarded as one of the world's great rail journeys particularly the stretch from Penzance to Exeter, a testament to the marvel of Victorian engineering.

It's not easy to build a railway in Cornwall, a rugged county, the remnants of the ancient Variscan Mountains. The Cornwall Railway Company constructed the line between Plymouth and Truro, which opened in 1859, and was extended to Falmouth in 1863. The 70 mile route from Truro is generally west to east, and cuts across numerous deep river valleys that generally run north-south. Under the guidance of the Victorian railway engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the river crossings were made by wooden viaducts, 42 in total, replacement by masonry structures beginning in the 1870s, a few remaining in service until the 1930s.

Crossing the River Tiddy via the viaduct at St. Germans

Leaving Cornwall, the most spectacular river crossing is via Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge, opened in 1859, which crosses the River Tamar at Saltash (reputably where the Wills family originated!) and leads into Plymouth in Devon. It is adjacent to the Tamar Bridge which opened in 1962 to carry the A38 road.

The Royal Albert railway bridge in the foreground, adjacent to the Tamar road traffic bridge

Once into south Devon the scenery begins to change dramatically, and between Newton Abbot and Exeter Cornwall's ancient Devonian rocks are replaced by the softer New Red Sandstones of the Triassic, the line cutting through a number of tunnels as it runs dramatically along the coastline at Dawlish. Often under siege by winter storms it is not unusual for the English Channel waves to crash over the carriages as the train approaches nearby Exeter.

Through the sandstone cliffs at Dawlish
Photo: BBC

Winter storms
Photo: The Railway Magazine

Once past Exeter and into Somerset another major change in the landscape as the train speeds over flatter terrain on its long journey to London, passing through the flat marshlands of the Somerset Levels, which are often flooded.

Flooded Somerset Levels

This is the area of the ancient Kingdom of Wessex, where the Wessex king, Alfred the Great, hid in the swamps and marshes with his men in 878, dependent on the local people for food and shelter, whilst fighting a guerrilla-style war with the Vikings, and it was from here that Alfred set out on the successful reconquest of his kingdom.

The Truro to London journey I must have done hundreds of times, via the branch line from Falmouth to Truro, but I never tire of it. I only journey from Truro to Penzance occasionally however, but this is also a spectacular short trip, passing through the tin and copper mining areas between Redruth and Camborne, where the landscape is dotted with the ruins of 19th century engine houses.  And as at Dawlish, the trains skirts the English Channel, passing by the iconic St. Michael's Mount as it approaches Penzance.

Wheal Peevor near Redruth

Approaching Penzance. St. Michael's Mount at Marazion

If you intend to visit Cornwall then do so by rail if you can. It sure beats the road journey!

@barrywills