Helston Railway

Helston Railway was a British railway company in Cornwall in England.

Initial proposals for the connection of Helston on the railroad, came from a rail link to Penryn. However, the project fell through due to financial problems and a lack of interest of local politics.

Only with the development of tourism to Lizard began to grasp the end of the 1870s, again the construction of a railway line in the eye. Local landowners, including William Bickford Smith, W. Molesworth - St.Aubyn and William Bolitho, so in 1879 the Helston Railway founded. At the foundation was assumed that a capital requirement of 70,000 pounds. With the Great Western Railway, an agreement was made to operate the route. This was awarded 50 % of revenues.

The Company received on 9 July 1880, the concession for the construction of a 14 kilometer long railway line Gwinnear Road Helston from port Gwinear Road to the railway line from Paddington to Penzance to the south of Helston. Construction began on 22 March 1882. The opening of the railway took place on 9 May 1887. Most important goods transported were stones from local quarries. In the summer excursion traffic made ​​for additional income.

The Great Western Railway took over the company on August 2, 1898.

A later planned extension of the line in The Lizard has not been implemented. Instead, led the GWR from 17 August 1903, a bus and coach transport. As part of the Beeching Axe of the freight was discontinued on November 3, 1962, the people and on 4 October 1964.

In July 2002, the Helston Railway Preservation Society was formed to build a museum operating on a section of the route.