Launceston Station
Launceston is the location of our main station, and the starting place for most passengers’ day with us. The first port of call for many visitors is our Gift & Book Shop where all our tickets are sold, as well as a range of high quality souvenirs and railway related memorabilia. Our book shop is home to an extensive collection of both new, and second hand books. Next door to the shop is our Café, which serves a variety of hot and cold beverages, food and sweet treats.
Across the lane from the Café is our Transport and Engineering Museum which holds a variety of vehicles and machines from the days when British engineering was the envy of the world.
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Station History
The station you see today has all the ambiance of a Victorian country station but nearly everything you see has been built or erected here since the early 1980s. The original Launceston station is now the site of Newport Industrial Estate and our free car park.
The Car Park
Once part of the original L. & S.W.R station and sold by British Rail to the Launceston Council as part of Newport Industrial Estate, from whom Launceston Steam Railway purchased it. You can still see the remains of the steps from the footbridge in the car park.
Museum and Workshops
The old Launceston Gasworks buildings, derelict for many years, were bought by the Launceston Steam Railway as a base for the workshops and a museum.
Café and Booking Office/ Shop
The current café and booking office has a unique story. Originally a three bedroomed bungalow built by Boulton & Paul LTD, and sold at the first Ideal Home exhibition in 1919, it was erected at Cranleigh, Surrey and gave good service for 66 years. It was dismantled and brought to Launceston in March 1985 and has been modified and re-erected on the site of a former Gas Company building which collapsed in 1976. The bungalow was given as a gift to the railway by Mr. and Mrs. Stone of Cranleigh. The steps leading up to the front of the café contain bricks which have the initials G.W.R. moulded in, these bricks originally came from Lostwithiel goods depot. The gas lighting installations are from local stations, and Dorking North, Surrey.
The Station Canopy
The canopy over the platform originally came from Tavistock North station and was a gift from the West Devon District Council. After many years in storage it was re-erected during the 1986/87 winter period. In the original design, the canopy had a building along its full length supporting the inner edge; because the building here is shorter, extra steel supporting columns have had to be made, hence why they lack the attractive cast iron floral design that the others carry
