Launceston Steam Railway - A Narrow Gauge Heritage Railway in Cornwall

On Boxing Day 1983 a new narrow gauge steam railway opened in Cornwall, England. This was the first half-mile stretch of the Launceston Steam Railway (LSR), which was progressively extended to reach it's current terminus at Newmills. The line was built on a disused standard gauge (4' 8½"/1435mm) trackbed which was chosen by the founder as a suitable site to run his own restored locomotive. With the addition of further locomotives and rolling stock, it has grown into a popular tourist attraction and has all the facilities visitors would expect on a British heritage railway. This article examines the history, stock, operation and future of the Launceston Steam Railway.
The first railway to reach the Cornish town was the Launceston and South Devon Railway which opened in 1865 and was absorbed into the Great Western Railway (GWR). In 1886 the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) opened its line from Halwill Junction to Launceston with the station adjacent to the GWR terminus. This line was extended in stages to Padstow in the 1890s and was grouped into the Southern Railway (SR) in 1923. After nationalisation into British railways in 1948, the former GWR line closed in 1962 and the former SR line closed three years later.