Plymouth's Lost Railways
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Published 2023-06-19
Hopefully this video will provide some historic and interesting informative entertainment to those who enjoy urban exploration.
King's Road Station had opened in May 1876 but was closed to passengers in September 1964, and then to goods traffic in 1971. Within just two years almost all trace of the station had been removed.
Deep in the undergrowth off Paradise Road in Plymouth you will find what remains of the city's lost railway station. King's Road Station was once 'Plymouth's finest' - now all that remains is the entrance to an old tunnel, which took trains deep under Devonport Park.
The Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway was incorporated by an Act of Parliament in August 1883, with work on the route from Lydford to Devonport starting four years later. The line made a junction with the London and South Western Railway at Devonport. On its approach it passed through two tunnels – Ford and Devonport Park. Just along from what was King’s Road Station was the masonry entrance to Devonport Park Tunnel, which can still be seen today.
The station had opened in May 1876 but was closed to passengers in September 1964, and then to goods traffic in 1971. Within just two years almost all trace of the station had been removed and much of the stonework had been used towards the infilling of Stonehouse Creek, and in 1974 the College of Further Education (now City College Plymouth) opened on this site.
The two tunnels, Devonport park and Ford tunnels are still there although accessible the approaches can be overgrown, and the Ford Viaduct crossing the Ford valley built of stone was dismantled around 1986.
All Comments (16)
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I remember walking through these tunnels in 1972; there was none of this undergrowth then, and I was able to wheel my bicycle through. King's Road tunnel had an area in the middle which was completely dark, neither portal was visible. The second tunnel had one portal or the other visible - in fact in my memory I have believed it was fairly straight. However, there was water dripping from the roof onto corrugated iron - walking in the darkness the sound was quite creepy compared to the first tunnel. The deep cutting between the two was impressive and made me feel very small. I could never visualise how anyone got down to the halt that used to exist there. Glad you answered that one. Emerging from the Ford tunnel the line went out across a wide valley on a beautiful viaduct. At that point I had to turn around and retrace my steps - access to the viaduct was prevented by iron railings. I was able to walk through the Stonehouse tunnel as well on the branch that led to the old steamer terminal at Mutton Cove. Traces of this branch can still be seen, but of course Plymouth College now occupies the site of the old Devonport station.
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Now at the age of 69 years as a teenager I use to walking. The abandoned railway tunnels in devonport and stone House creek , the line from Albert road station used to run along the bottom of what's known as brick fields out to the port at mutton cove to meet up with Atlantic going steamers from the USA. That station closed in 1912 , the old site at mutton cove. I used to fish but now it is a multi-million pound yacht. Marina overlooking the entrance to the river Tamar. It brings fit memories It's nice to see that someone else is still interested in the old steam railway tunnels of Plymouth which still echo the sound of steam locomotives in their Hay Day .🇬🇧👍🏼
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What a metro tram system Plymouth could have if they kept all these lines in the city
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Nice shot of the up Brighton on Ford viaduct. Fond memories of seeing the ol West Country’s running around Friary, Laira & North Rd 62-64. Southern lines were lifted around 1966, after closure.
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Sadly it shows Plymouths unkept and desolate side hidden in plain sight....but is it better or even worse today? I moved to Canada in 1976 and my last visits back were depressing to see the lack of civic pride.
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Sorry but I gave up watching g after 14 minutes of camera pointing all over the place zoomed in so you couldn’t see the context of anything and when the other guy is pointing something out, the camera is pointing at tree branches… sorry it’s like someone accidently turned the camera on and forgot it was running.
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Excellent thank you.
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Jeez, that muzak....
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There are pictures of mine on here of Devonport Kings Road, obviously pirated so please remove them, Bernard Mills
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PlyMuff
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Pasley street?
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Sorry to be critical but the camera spends more time pointing at the ground, zoomed in, and about 10% of the time shooting anything of interest … sorry just saying
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Razin Ninja 🇲🇾
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Parts of this video was interesting but alot of it was annoyingly rubbish... did you actually watch this video before uploading it to youtube? You could have left some of the subtitles on a little longer so we don't have to pause to read it and some of the subtitles were hard to read as they blended into the background picture and couldn't see alot of what happened in the tunnels as it was too dark.
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This is a prime example of how not to do a video. Waving the camera about is not the way to do a video, especially in dark tunnels. Read how to make videos before posting this sort of stuff!
