The North Cornwall Railway

PADSTOW since closure

On the last leg to Padstow is the well-known viaduct over Little Petherick Creek, seen here as photographed by Ron Strutt in the 1980s.

This viaduct now forms a part of the Camel Trail that utilises the old trackbed between Wadebridge and Padstow and was photographed again by Ron Strutt in 1999.

Padstow station did not change much for many years. In the time since the railway's closure it has been used by a cycle hire firm, the Customs and Excise and up to the present day as offices for the local Town Council. The platform, uncharacteristically empty on this wet day, became a parking place for the hundreds of bicycles used by those who cycled here along the Camel Trail. The photograph is another of Ron Strutt's from the 1980s.

A closer view of the station building from the Wadebridge end as it was in the 1980s, again taken by Ron Strutt.

The front of the station showing the road that comes down steeply from the higher part of the town and the railway-built Metropole Hotel (formerly South Western Hotel) in the background. Today much of the foreground is a large car park. This is another of Ron Strutt's photos from the 1980s.

Now looking in June 2012 the exterior of the station has remained pretty much as it was, though the inside has been modified a little to meet the needs of the Town Council offices and Council Chamber, which is where the booking office/waiting room was originally.

The Stationmaster's house seen in June 2012. Downstairs is used for the Town Council offices whilst upstairs is purely storage.

The platform side of the station building as seen in June 2012. Apart from the stands for bicycles it is still pretty much as it was in the 1980s.

What has changed in a big way is a huge, ugly building has been built where the tracks once were, and over the edge of the platform. Railings have been placed on the remaining platform edge and down the ramp.

The platform, with it's additional railings, that remains on the other, station building, side of the new building. Enough room still for a short train!

In a cupboard in the building is this old clock which the Town Clerk has recently had restored. But is it the Railway Clock? Although of the right style there is no railway branding (usually, but not always, present) and the only text on the clock's face is the single word legend "Enfield" below the '12' and the words "Made in England " below the '6'. Is this a product from the Enfield Clock Company of Edmonton, which ceased in the late 1940s, becoming part of the Smith Group? Did the company make Railway Clocks?

In summer 2012 the fate of the station hangs in the balance. The Town Council is planning to move out to new premises whilst the Padstow Museum would love to be able to move into the station. However, the Town Councillors are asking for suggestions as to what to do with the site - demolish it and build something new, demolish the Council Chamber (was booking office/waiting room) and the horrible flat roofed toilet block on the other side, or ?. Hopefully common sense will prevail and this fine old building, such an important part of Padstow's history in the twentieth century, will be retained, with the best use for it being a new home for the presently very cramped Padstow Museum and/or the Tourist Information Centre.