The Pentewan Railway () was a narrow gauge railway in Cornwall, England. It was built as a horse-drawn tramway carrying china clay from St Austell to a new harbour at Pentewan, and was opened in 1829. In 1874 the line was strengthened for locomotive working. It finally succumbed to more efficient operation at other ports and closed in 1918.
Origins
Tin mining had been the dominant industry in much of Cornwall in the eighteenth century, but that work was declining by the 1830s. China clay (referred to as kaolinite outside the United Kingdom) had been discovered in the area north and west of St Austell, in Cornwall, and Charles Rashleigh was prominent in developing the industry; he built a harbour at Charlestown from which the material could be shipped to market. The harbour was south-east of St Austell town and the principal sources of the mineral were to the north west, and that the china clay had to be conveyed on packhorses through the centre of the town.
In 1820 Sir Christopher Hawkins purchased land at Pentewan at the mouth of the St Austell River. He constructed a harbour there, and it was completed in 1826 at a cost of £22,000.
In 1827 a prospectus for a railway was published by him; the railway was to run from the West Road at St Austell to Pentewan Harbour; the West Road location was on the cartage route from the clay pits. Tenders for the construction of the line were invited on 26 September 1829. There were no substantial engineering difficulties and the line was announced as already open nine months later, on 1 July 1830; the cost was said to be £5,732 6s 8d. Hawkins appears to have managed the operation through a Pentewan Railway and Harbour Company.
The line in operation
The new railway was built to narrow gauge. There had previously been no other edge railway of that gauge. It was the third public railway in Cornwall, after the Portreath Tramroad (a plateway) and the Redruth and Chasewater Railway. The northern part was on a steep gradient falling towards the harbour, so that loaded wagons could be gravitated; the remainder, and the uphill empty haul, was operated with horses.
Output of china clay in Cornwall increased rapidly at this time, from 12,790 tons in 1826 to 20,784 tons in 1838. The Pentewan Railway handled about a third of the traffic at first, but this declined to about a tenth in 1838.
In 1833 a coal yard and siding were built at London Apprentice to serve the tin mine at Polgooth. In time the line serviced a number of small mica works and other industries along the line, including the St Austell gas works, for which it provided coal. Coal was also brought in to the mica kilns, as well as to St Austell. Baltic timber was also taken from Pentewan to St Austell for making barrels.
Passengers
There appears to have been a limited passenger service on the line from 1830, but few details survive. An early account quotes the fare as 3d. There was no formal timetabled train service, and it is likely that persons were conveyed on an ordinary wagon on request. A sixteen-seat saloon carriage was built in 1875, but its use was confined solely to the Hawkins family.
In August 1881 the children of St Austell Workhouse, were taken to Pentewan on the trucks for their annual treat, which was paid for by Mr Arthur Coode. From 1883 free Sunday School excursions to Pentewan took place, and these appear to have become a regular event on the line. The passenger were conveyed in the clay wagons
1874 improvements
While the line had originally been a pioneer, technological progress meant that lines built later were more efficient. The Cornwall Railway opened between Plymouth and Truro in 1859 using steam locomotives, and soon became the dominant land transport medium in the district. Silting of Pentewan Harbour had been a recurrent problem, limiting its attractiveness to shipping.
In 1874 an Act of Parliament was obtained authorising the use of locomotive traction on the Pentewan line, and also extensions northwards into the china clay fields. This ambitious scheme changed the name of the owning company to the St Austell and Pentewan Railway Harbour and Dock Company with capital of £50,000. Strengthening of the track had apparently already taken place, and indeed the use of locomotives had already been implemented: an 0-6-0 tender engine, Pentewan had arrived in 1874.