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The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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Ford Station was located between St Budeaux and Devonport Stations on the Southern Railway main line. It was adjacent to the eastern end of Station Road, Keyham Barton, with the main entrance and booking office on the down side at Sussex Road. The Station was built by the Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway and opened on Monday June 2nd 1890. On Wednesday September 26th 1906 the LSWR inaugurated its new rail-motor service between Devonport, Ford and St Budeaux. There were eighteen trains in each direction on weekdays and eight on Sundays. The first car left Devonport and 6.18am, returning from St Budeaux at 6.40am. The last car left Devonport at 10.30pm and St Budeaux at 11.10pm. On Sundays the service would start at 9.08am from Devonport and 9.27am from St Budeaux and continue until the last train left Devonport at 10.08pm and St Budeaux at 10.25pm. The fare from Devonport to Camel's Head was one penny and to Weston Mill and St Budeaux, tuppence. The service was extended into Plymouth Friary Station on Monday October 1st 1906. Although the name boards were never changed, it became known in the railway timetables as Ford (Devon) so as not to be confused with Ford (Sussex).
This map shows the relationship
between Ford Station was closed from Monday September 7th 1964 along with Devonport King's Road when the duplicate line from Devonport Junction (BR(WR)) to St Budeaux Victoria Road (BR(SR)) was closed.
The down side booking office at Ford Station, circa 1960. Signalling A signal box was provided on the Up side at Ford Station when it was opened. This originally had 11 levers controlling a Distant, Home, and Starter in the Down direction and Distant, Home and Starter signals in the Up direction, although five of the levers were unused. The Box was open only from 9.15am until 7.25pm, outside of which the block section was from Devonport to St Budeaux. In 1900 a siding was installed on the Keyham Barton side for unloading bricks for the massive housing development then under way. A crossover was also provided. The main line signalling in the Down direction was then increased to Distant, Home, Starter and Advanced Starter but the Up side was left as before. There were then 14 levers, of which only 1 was spare. Once the building work had been completed the use of the siding declined. The crossover between the Up and Down main lines had been removed by 1932, as had the connection from the Down main line to the siding. Thus only trains running in the Up direction, from Devonpoprt towards St Budeaux could detach or attach trucks. There were no special instructions for working the siding included in the 1934 rule book. As a result the signal box was reduced in importance and was only opened when required for traffic. It was not until March 2nd 1947 that Ford Signal Box was closed and the signals removed, demolition coming swiftly afterwards. Ford Viaduct Just to the south of Ford Station was Ford Viaduct spanning the St Levan valley. This was 135 yards long and 83 feet at its extreme height. It comprised of seven spans, each 50 feet long. The Ford Viaduct was demolished in 1987 and the route of the railway has now been filled in with housing and a footpath. Two incidents are recorded in connection with the construction of the Viaduct. A temporary tramway had been constructed about 30 or 40 feet above Keyham Creek to convey materials from one side of the water to the other. It was supported on heavy wooden beams and on Tuesday September 25th 1888 Police Constables Pearse and Holland, who were on duty at Ford, discovered that a fire was burning at the bottom of one of these supports. They presumably distinguished the fire quite easily and quickly, after which Messrs Wise and Parrish, the foremen of works, 'started inquiries to find the perpetrators.' At just before 2pm on October 29th 1888, Mr Richard Netherby, a 46-years-old carpenter, of 5 St Levan Road, and Mr Thomas James Weston, a labourer, were working on one of the stages under the third arch, where they were releasing the "deals" from the framework. Both men were pushing the plank towards the lower part of the arch, down which it would then go broadways. Weston apparently pushed his end 'with some little greater force than the other end', whereupon the end that Mr Netherby was holding "kicked" and struck him in the temple. This knocked him off the stage and he fell some 70 feet to his death. Mr Richard Cleave, a leading man of masons, saw him fall on his back on to a culvert and then roll over in to Keyham Lake. Despite being attended by Mr Christopher Bulteel, who was driving by in his carriage at the time, and Mr Thorn, a surgeon from the Royal Albert Hospital, Netherby died about 15 minutes later. At the subsequent inquest, held on October 30th, Mr William Parrish, the general foreman of works, stated that he thought that a nail had been left in the centre of the plank and that this nail caught on one side of the rib, forcing one end of the plank down first. Mr Netherby left a wife and family. Ford Tunnel Ford boasted two tunnels. Ford Tunnel was officially 373 yards long and ran from Littleton Place, just beyond the southern end of Ford Viaduct, to Exmouth Road, where the track emerged just long enough to allow for Albert Road Halt before diving in to Devonport Park Tunnel. That one is dealt with under Devonport King's Road Station. Ford Subway Ford's second tunnel was actually a subway underneath the railway itself, enabling pedestrians to get from Maristow Avenue to Sussex Road. This was planned by the Borough Surveyor and was expected to cost £2,150. In March 1923 the Southern Railway were asked to comment on the proposal. They evidently came up with an alternative because by June 1923 the cost had risen to £2,450 and the Council were to reconsider the matter. By September 1923 they had discovered that the Ministry of Transport required the subway to be 8 feet in width instead of the proposed 6 feet and the cost rose once again, this time to £3,000. The Council approved it on September 18th 1923.
On July 8th 1924 the tender of Messrs R T Hortop & Company, in the sum of £3,217 10s, was accepted but there was then an unexplained delay in starting the works and in January 1925 they asked that they be released from the contract due to the long delay since their tender was submitted. The contract was taken over by Messrs A J Steer Ltd and on June 1st 1926 the Chairman of the Works Committee, Alderman Littleton, a former Devonport councillor, declared it open.
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