Carbis Bay railway station

Carbis Bay railway station is on the St Ives Bay Line in Cornwall, United Kingdom and serves the village and beach of Carbis Bay, a community that only adopted this name after the arrival of the railway in 1877.

Carbis Bay
Location
Place	Carbis Bay
Local authority	Cornwall
Coordinates	50.197°N 5.464°W / 50.197; -5.464
Grid reference	SW528387
Operations
Station code	CBB
Managed by	Great Western Railway
Number of platforms	1
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	0.232 million
2015/16	0.191 million
2016/17	0.195 million
2017/18	0.235 million
2018/19	0.228 million
History
Original company	Great Western Railway
Opened	1877
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Carbis Bay from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

The station comprises a single platform. It is 324 miles (521 km) from London Paddington via Bristol Temple Meads. Carbis Viaduct is situated on the St Ives (west) side of the station.

History

The station was opened by the Great Western Railway on 1 June 1877 on their new branch line from St Erth to St Ives. The railway needed a viaduct to cross the small valley that carried Carbis Water down to the Baripper Cove. It was decided to build a station on the east side of the valley and call it Carbis Bay. The location proved popular with visitors and the small farms around Wheal Providence mine expanded to become the village of Carbis Bay, named after the station.[1]

The station buildings were not on the platform, rather they were at the top of the shallow cutting in which the station is built.[2] Goods traffic was withdrawn in May 1956.[3]

Description

The station is 3 miles (4.8 km) from St Erth. There is a single platform situated in a shallow cutting north of the road that leads down to the beach. It is on the left of trains arriving from St Erth. There is a small car park at the station entrance but a larger one is available a short distance away by the beach.

Services

All trains are operated by Great Western Railway. Most run between St Ives and St Erth half hourly, but some are extended through to Penzance.[4]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Lelant		Great Western Railway St Ives Bay Line		St Ives

Carbis Viaduct

Carbis Viaduct looking north

Carbis Viaduct is a short distance beyond the station towards St Ives. It is built of granite from a nearby quarry at Towednack and has three piers supporting four 40 feet (12 m) arches, giving a total length of 78 yards (71 m); it is 78 feet (24 m) high.[2][5]

References

1. Bray, Lena; Bray, Donald (1992) [1981]. St Ives Heritage (Second ed.). Devoran: Landfall Publications. ISBN 1-873443-06-4.
2. Bennett, Alan (1990) [1988]. The Great Western Railway in West Cornwall (2 ed.). Cheltenham: Runpast Publishing. ISBN 1-870754-12-3.
3. Jenkins, Stanley C (1992). "the St Ives Branch". Great Western Railway Journal. Wild Swan Publications Ltd (Cornish Special Issue): 2–34.
4. Table 144 National Rail timetable, May 2016
5. Jacobs, Gerald (2005). Railway Track Diagrams Book 3: Western. Bradford-on-Avon: Trackmaps. ISBN 0-9549866-1-X.

This station offers access to the South West Coast Path
Distance to path	50 yards (46 m)
Next station anticlockwise	St Ives 1 mile (2 km)
Next station clockwise	Lelant 2 miles (3 km)