As part of the fact finding for my “Poldark” model railway, I took the opportunity to take some pictures of St Blazey and Par around which it’s based.
The railway workshop and railway operation at St Blazey was a sizable railway facility with erecting and repair shop, a fitting shop, smithy, boiler house, roundhouse engine shed, turntable, water tank, goods yard and marshalling yard. It was built in 1874, by Sir Samuel Morton Peto for the Cornwall Minerals Railway with ownership passing to Great Western Railway in 1877. In 1948, with the nationalisation of the railways, it passed to British Railways ownership. It is now operated by DB Schenker Rail.
Today, the engine sheds are industrial units and while the turntable is still present it is only used for visiting steam locomotives. The repair sheds are used for servicing diesels, passenger trains with the marshalling yard used to hold wagons.
The following pictures are from my visit in early April 2015. Click on any picture for a larger version.
First up, is the roundhouse engine shed. It featured nine sheds with rails leading to a turntable (below).
The Round House Engine Shed at St Blazey Cornwall.
The rear of the Roundhouse buildings, showing the brick work and window detailing.
Rear of Roundhouse engine shed, St Blazey
Along with the engine shed above, the railway works at St Blazey also included a erecting and repair shop, a fitting shop, a smithy, boiler house. These are opposite the engine sheds as seen in the next three pictures, the first showing the overall structure including chimney the second more focused on the main structure.
The St Blazey erecting and repair shop, a fitting shop, a smithy, boiler house.
If you look carefully, you’ll also notice the architecture and detailing is identical on the brick, woodwork and bricks between the buildings. The hinges on the roundhouse doors, seen below, also remain on many of the fitting shop, a smithy, boiler house doors as do the window frames.
Look at the detail – most doors share the same hinges.
To round off the ancillary buildings, this picture illustrates the marvellous brickwork detailing on the side/end section of the fitting shops.
Detail of brick work the buildings atSt Blazey
Not on the site of the above works, but at the nearby Par Station. This is Par Signal box, built in 1879 and built to the first GWR standard design. It’s now a Grade II-listed building.
The Grade II listed Par, Cornwall, Signal Box.
Lastly, and back at St Blazey, the turntable. In first picture above – the roundhouse – you can see rails leading from each shed. These ran to the turntable which lies directly in front of it. The turntable is no longer in regular operation.
St Blazey turntable.
To see any of the above pictures in close in higher resolution, just click on them. I have more pictures which I’ll be happy to send to anyone interested on the basis they are not reproduced without asking. Please contact me if interested.
Andy is a lifelong modeler, writer, and founder of modelrailwayengineer.com. He has been building model railways, dioramas, and miniatures for over 20 years. His passion for model making and railways began when he was a child, building his first layout at the age of seven.
Andy’s particular passion is making scenery and structures in 4mm scale, which he sells commercially. He is particularly interested in modelling the railways of South West England during the late Victorian/early Edwardian era, although he also enjoys making sci-fi and fantasy figures and dioramas. His website has won several awards, and he is a member of MERG (Model Railway Electronics Group) and the 009 Society.
When not making models, Andy lives in Surrey with his wife and teenage son. Other interests include history, science fiction, photography, and programming. Read more about Andy.