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The Princetown Railway was a 10¼ mile single track branch railway line in Devon, England, that ran from Yelverton on the Plymouth to Tavistock line, to via four intermediate stations, , , and . ==Origins== In 1823 the Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway had opened its line connecting Princetown with a wharf on the River Plym near Plymouth. The original intention of encouraging agricultural development of the moor had been frustrated, but the line was carrying considerable traffic in granite from quarries a little below Princetown. It used horses for pulling the wagons and had a distinct track gauge of 4 ft 6in (1,372 mm). It did not convey passengers. In 1852 business interests were formulating the prospectus of the South Devon and Tavistock Railway Company (SD&TR), which was to connect Tavistock with the main line railway near Plymouth. They wrote that arrangements would also be made, if found desirable, to form a branch line to Government establishments at Princetown.〔G H Anthony, ''The Tavistock, Launceston and Princetown Railways'', Oakwood Press, Salisbury, 1973 reprinted 1981, ISBN 0-85361-223-4〕 The Government establishments were of course Dartmoor Prison, then recently re-opened as a convict prison. The proposed branch was not proceeded with, and the SD&TR opened its line on 22 June 1859. It left the Exeter - Plymouth line of the South Devon Railway near Marsh Mills and ran northwards to Tavistock, passing through a tunnel under Roborough Down, near the settlement of Yelverton. In 1874 an independent company proposed a branch line from Yelverton to Princetown, with a short branch there to the prison. This scheme failed to gain support. By now the Great Western Railway (GWR) had taken over the SD&TR line, and proposed a Princetown branch from Yelverton; it obtained powers by Act of Parliament on 13 August 1878, by which a nominally independent company, the Princetown Railway, was incorporated. The GWR was to work the line when built, and to have a controlling interest. Notwithstanding GWR sponsorship, the line was to be built on the standard gauge (4 ft 8½in, 1,435 mm).〔Anthony R Kingdom, ''The Princetown Branch'', Oxford Publishing Co Ltd, Oxford, 1979, ISBN 0-86093-004-1〕 The line was to be 10¼ miles in length from Yelverton Siding (on the Plymouth to Tavistock line, at the south end of the tunnel) to Princetown. Adopting part of the route of the 1814 Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway and joining with the GWR, it made working arrangements with those companies and received subscription support from them towards its authorised capital of £60,000, with borrowing powers of £20,000.〔E F Carter, ''An Historical Geography of the Railways of the British Isles'', Cassell, London, 1959〕 The Company purchased the upper section of the Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway (P&DR) for £22,000, in order to use the P&DR trackbed. It did so for much of the route, but it ran to the east of Yennadon Down. There were also a number of local realignments where very sharp tramway curves had to be smoothed for locomotive operation. The line was evidently partly supported by the Home Office, as a financial grant towards the construction was expected to be made. It was also anticipated that convict labour might be used for the construction, but this was abandoned as impractical.〔Minutes of Board meetings quoted in Kingdom, pages 64 and 66〕 On 7 July 1883 Colonel Yolland of the Board of Trade made an inspection of the line, but found several issues to be unsatisfactory, and he refused the sanction to open. He made a second visit after alterations had been made, and the line opened without ceremony on 11 August 1883.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Princetown Railway」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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