PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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CATTEWATER BRANCH
The branch railway from Plymouth Friary Station to Cattewater Junction Signal Box on the Turnchapel Branch and then to Cattewater Wharves and Victoria Wharves was originally proposed by the Plymouth & Dartmoor Railway Company on behalf of the London & South Western Railway, who worked the line from its opening on Tuesday August 3rd 1880. The line reached its eventual terminus at Victoria Wharves in 1888. It became the Southern Railway Cattewater Branch as from January 1st 1923. In the Southern Railway timetable which commenced on July 17th 1932 the first freight train down the Cattewater Branch left Friary Yard at 7.22am and passed Cattewater Junction at 7.25am. Although its arrival time at Cattewater is shown as 7.28am that must be at the first stopping point after the Junction as it would have taken a lot longer than three minutes to get to Victoria Wharves. It returned from Cattewater at 1.47pm, arriving at Friary Yard at 1.53pm. [1] At 11.32am the second train went down if it was required and returned to Friary at 12.06pm. [1] The 2.45pm departure ran on Mondays to Fridays only. On Saturdays it left Friary at 5.10pm. The Saturday journey returned to Friary at 5.41pm but the Mondays to Fridays one did not return until 8.42pm. [1] A further "As Required" train left Friary Yard at 6.19pm, returning at 6.46pm. [1] There were no trains on a Sunday. [1] Upon nationalisation on January 1st 1948 the line became the British Railways Cattewater Branch, operated by the Southern Region. Sources:
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