What Three Words: ///manicured.cliff.streamers
OS Grid Reference: SX106597
The Cornwall Railway was a broad-gauge venture sponsored by the Great Western Railway, which later acquired it. Its initial route from Plymouth to Falmouth was made possible only by the GWR’s chief engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who built the unique suspension bridge, with countervailing tubular arches, across the Tamar at Saltash and then the numerous viaducts and tunnels along the rest of the line. Lostwithiel was chosen as the base for his depot and works, and from here he produced the wooden sleepers, iron rails, and later the wagons and carriages that would run along the lines. The site was later extended to provide a loco-shed for the steam engines. The works provided much employment in the town, especially for former iron miners.
The carriage works after its closure (Lostwithiel Museum)
Goods working was discontinued in 1964 and the loco shed was dismantled in 1982. The carriage works itself was put to commercial use as an industrial estate called the Great Western Commercial Village, but a fire in 1987 put its future in doubt. It was bought for redevelopment and conversion into flats and town houses. Work began in 2004, with new buildings using the same materials and in in the same style, to blend in with the surviving works buildings. The development was completed in 2011 with the opening of The Old Carriage Works Dental Surgery.
The carriage works after the fire