SideTracked - Menheniot Traditional Geocache
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The station opened with the Cornwall Railway on 4 May 1859. It was described at the time as "of small extent, consisting of a departure station, a stone building, having a projecting roof thrown over the platform for the protection of passengers. At the 'arrival' side of the line a stone erection, with a covered seat, has been provided, but no enclosed room". The following year saw two cottages built for the use of the railway staff working here. The "stone erection" is still in existence, used as a waiting shelter. The Cornwall Railway was amalgamated into the Great Western Railway on 1 July 1889. The Great Western Railway was nationalised into British Railways from 1 January 1948 which was privatised in the 1990s. Under British railways the staff were removed from the station, and from 17 May 2009 the station is only served on request. The station also has a new footbridge as from 17 May 2009. On 2 December 1873 two goods trains arrived at the station where they could pass each other before resuming their journey on the single tracks towards St Germans and Liskeard. The crossing loop was not at that time equipped with starting signals. The train for the latter had a clear line and so the signalman called out "All right Dick," to the guard. Unfortunately the guard for the other train was also called Dick and so told his driver to start, but the line was not clear as another train was already on the way down from St Germans. Luckily, the train crews survived the resulting collision. The driver of the up train to St. Germans, Richard Hocking, died a few days later of his injuries, (tetanus, caused by scalding etc.), in hospital at Plymouth. The accident illustrated the need for starting signals, block working, and some interlocking between the starting signals and the block instruments.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Cbfg. 3sg hc