The Looe Valley Line Story - Part 3

In Part 3 of our four-part mini series, Vicki Pipe of rail adventurers All The Stations explores how the Looe Valley Line was finally connected up to the main line in 1901.

In the preceding four decades, the only way to get up to Liskeard was to walk the steep hill - as recreated by Vicki. Then local engineer Joseph Thomas triumphed with his design for the 'horseshoe curve' that to this day carries the line up the 1 in 40 gradient from Coombe Junction Halt to meet the main line at Liskeard.

The opening of the curve was an eventful one, with Vicki telling the tale of how unlucky passengers were nearly stranded when on the day of the launch their train failed to make it up the hill.

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The series is part of the Looe Valley Line heritage project by the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership.

MORE PHOTOS & VIDEOS
Visit the website www.looerailheritage.com to find out more about the line's past, including archive photographs, video interviews with members of the local community and more.

GET THE APP
Download the free 'Looe Valley Line Heritage' app for iOS and Android, the perfect heritage companion to a trip on the line. As you travel beneath the towering viaduct, call at picturesque stations and meander alongside the estuary, the app uses GPS to tell you about what you’re seeing.

VISIT
Nothing beats visiting the line yourself. Plan your trip at www.greatscenicrailways.com.

The heritage project is funded by the GWR Customer and Communities Improvement Fund and the Designated Community Rail Development Fund, a joint initiative of the Department for Transport and ACoRP, the Association of Community Rail Partnerships.