Nancegollan railway station

The station opened on 9 May 1887 when the Helston Railway opened the line between {{rws|Helston}} and {{rws|Gwinear Road}} on the Great Western Railway mainline to {{rws|Penzance}}.{{Quick-stations-5|page=327}}{{Grant-RailCo|page=260}}

The line was operated by the Great Western Railway and absorbed by that company on 2 August 1898.

Originally it had a single passenger platform on the upside and a goods loop without a platform;{{cite web |title=Nancegollan station on OS 25 inch map Cornwall LXX.13 (Breage; Crowan; Sithney) |year=1908 |url=https://maps.nls.uk/view/105996211#zoom=6&lat=7747&lon=4726&layers=BT |website=National Library of Scotland |access-date=17 July 2020}} the connections were operated by a ground frame. In 1937 the facilities were considerably extended, with a full crossing facility for passenger trains and longer platforms on both lines, as well as a loop line behind the up platform and a large goods yard.{{cite book |title=Cornwall Railway Stations |first=Mike |last=Oakley |year=2009 |publisher=Dovecote Press |location=Wimborne Minster |isbn=978-1-904-34968-6}}

In 1941 the station's goods sidings were further modified and extended in connection with airfield construction in the locality, and a new signal box with a lever frame that had been relocated from the Cornish Main Line at St Germans. A second, metal, bridge was also built at this time to carry the road over the new goods yard access lines. A camping coach was positioned here by the Western Region from 1958 to 1962.{{cite book |last=McRae |first=Andrew |title=British Railways Camping Coach Holidays: A Tour of Britain in the 1950s and 1960s |volume=Scenes from the Past: 30 (Part Two) |publisher=Foxline |year=1998 |isbn=1-870119-53-3|page=95}}

Due to the line's "uncoloured" classification, heavy locomotives such as GWR Classes 43XX 2-6-0 Tender Engine and 51XX 2-6-2T Tank Engines were allowed as far as Nancegollan only.{{cite book |title=Operation Cornwall |first=W. S. |last=Becket |publisher=Xpress Publishing |location=Caernarvon |date=n.d. |isbn=1-901056-25-2}} Although larger locomotives did run past Nancegollan in the branch's dying days the Class 22s ran on the branch even though they were a GWR blue classification, higher than the branch line.

In April 1957, Nancegollan won £10 (£238.65 in today's money{{Cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/|title=The National Archives - Currency converter: 1270–2017|last=Archives|first=The National|website=Currency converter|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-09-08}}) in the British Railways Western Region Station Gardens Competition.{{Cite journal|date=April 1957|title=Station Garden Competition|journal=British Railways Magazine (Western Region)|volume=4|pages=111–112}}

The branch was closed for passengers on 5 November 1962. Goods traffic continued for a further two years, finally ceasing on 5 October 1964; the track was lifted by mid-1965.{{cite book |last=Hurst |first=Geoffrey |date=1992 |title=Register of Closed Railways: 1948-1991 |url=https://archive.org/details/registerofclosed0000hurs |location=Worksop, Nottinghamshire |publisher=Milepost Publications |isbn=0-9477-9618-5 |page=30 (ref 1458)}}{{cite book|last1=Atterbury|first1=Paul|title=Along Lost Lines|date=2011|publisher=David & Charles|location=Cincinnati|isbn=978-0-7153-2706-7|page=18}}

{{Historical Rail Start}}

{{rail line|previous={{stnlnk|Praze}}|next={{stnlnk|Truthall Halt}}|route=Great Western Railway
Helston Railway |col={{GWR colour}} }}

{{s-end}}

The following people are known to have been Station Masters at Nancegollan Station, with approximate dates show.

• S.J. Jeffery, Station Master (? - July 1955 - December 1957){{Cite journal|date=July 1955|title=Examination Successes|journal=British Railways Magazine (Western Region)|volume=6|pages=137}}{{Cite journal|date=December 1957|title=Promotions and Transfers|journal=British Railways Magazine (Western Region)|volume=8|pages=337–339}}
• A. Knight, Station Master (? - ?){{Cite web|url=http://www.helstonhistory.co.uk/helstons-shops-transport/helston-branch-railway/|title=Helston Branch Railway|last=Ivey|first=William Frederick|website=Helston History}}
• T. Williams, Station Master (January 1958 - ?){{Cite journal|date=January 1958|title=Promotions and Transfers|journal=British Railways Magazine (Western Region)|volume=9|pages=18, 20, 22}}

Today the site of Nancegollan is an industrial estate.{{cite web|title=Google map image from the Nancegollen industrial estate.|url=https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Clinton+Bray/@50.1419787,-5.3058397,141m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m8!1m2!2m1!1sNancegollan+railway+station!3m4!1s0x0:0xa6a6dd3bc32b86a2!8m2!3d50.1420011!4d-5.3054027|access-date=1 September 2017}}

There are plans for the Helston Railway to extend the line into Nancegollen at some point.

File:Old railway bridge - geograph.org.uk - 192446.jpg|The bridge at Nancegollen is still standing.

File:Where the railway ran - geograph.org.uk - 192448.jpg|The site of Nancegollen station still with a lamp poking through the shrubbery

File:Nancegollan station site geograph-3793496-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg|The site of the station in 1973, nine years after it closed

File:Nancegollan Station Lamp.jpg|A Station lamp that can now be seen in a garden.

{{Portal|Cornwall}}

{{Reflist}}

Category:Disused railway stations in Cornwall

Category:Former Great Western Railway stations

Category:Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1887

Category:Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1962