The Plymouth to Yealmpton Branch was a Great Western Railway single track branch railway line in Devon, England, that ran from Plymstock to . The line was planned as part of a route to Modbury, but the scheme was cut back to Yealmpton; it opened in 1898, and the passenger train service ran from , but road competition led to declining usage and the passenger service was withdrawn in 1930.
During heavy air raids in 1941 many Plymouth workers preferred to find accommodation outside the city, and in 1941 the passenger service was reinstated, transferring to Plymouth Friary as the terminal. This service ceased in 1947 and the goods service on the line finished in 1960.
Background
The broad gauge group of companies, called the Associated Companies, had early on established main line primacy in the Plymouth area, the South Devon Railway having reached the city in 1849. The rival London and South Western Railway (LSWR) had long had ambitions to reach the city, and its trains first entered Plymouth in 1876. However this was not entirely satisfactory, as the trains had to run over the South Devon Railway's Tavistock line for the final approach to Plymouth, and work started on an independent line in 1887, through the medium of a friendly company, the Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway.
Seeing that it was now in sight of establishing itself in the city, the LSWR planned a large Plymouth terminal, which became Plymouth Friary station and goods depot, and it acquired a moribund mineral line, the Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway (P&DR), and through it obtained an Act of Parliament authorising the Turnchapel Branch.
The Associated Companies had by this time amalgamated and become the Great Western Railway (GWR), and these competing developments were alarming to it. Now a South Hams Railway, branching from the Turnchapel branch and running through Yealmpton to Modbury, was authorised by Act of 22 June 1888. The GWR feared its extension to Torbay and Exeter, areas it considered to be its own.
However aggressive rivalry was modified to collaboration, and by Act of 1894 the South Hams line was modified, the rights for the portion as far as Yealmpton being transferred to the GWR, the LSWR retaining the section beyond, and mutual running powers being applied.
Construction
The contractor appointed was Lucas and Aird. Work on the line started in late December 1895; there was a ceremonial inauguration on 15 January 1898, and the public opening took place on 17 January 1898. As well as the branch line from Plymstock Junction LSWR to Yealmpton, a short spur was built connecting Mount Gould Junction to Cattewater Junction; the trains travelled over the LSWR Turnchapel Branch line for a short distance, including the crossing of the Laira.
The line was inspected by Lieutenant Colonel Sir Horatio Arthur Yorke, Chief Inspector of Railways, Board of Trade who reported that everything was satisfactory on 7 December 1897
Route
Passenger trains to from turned at Lipson Junction to Mount Gould Junction, diverging there to Cattewater Junction, where the trains joined the LSWR (nominally P&DR) Turnchapel Branch to cross the Laira by Laira Bridge. At Plymstock the Yealmpton branch diverged east from the Turnchapel line, the passenger station being in the fork of the junction. The short section from Mount Gould Junction to Cattewater Junction was built specially for the Yealmpton service; it was 29 chains (580 m) in length and was called Plymouth no. 2 Loop.
The branch, which was 6 miles 38 chains (10.42 km) in length, was single track between Plymstock and Yealmpton. Its direction ran broadly east with a southward swoop at Brixton Road, with stations at Billacombe, Elburton Cross, Brixton Road, Steer Point, and the terminus at Yealmpton. The line climbed steeply from Plymstock to Billacombe, with a ruling gradient of 1 in 68; from Billacombe it fell again at 1 in 60 for a mile and a half. Then the line was broadly level, with a short climb at 1 in 60 on the approach to Yealmpton. Passengers at could use steamers running between the quay at Steer Point and Newton Ferrers.
There was an important quarry and stone crushing plant at Billacombe, which despatched stone by rail. Although it was the terminus of the line, Yealmpton station was still configured as a through station because the proposal had been to build a railway to Modbury, away.