LAUNCESTON Railway Circle is to host an evening to mark 50 years since the closure of the town and surrounding area’s railway lines.

The first railway arrived in Launceston in the summer of 1865, connecting with Plymouth. By July 1886 a connection was established from Okehampton, which was extended onwards towards Wadebridge and Padstow arriving there at the end of the 19th century.

From 1900 it was possible to take the train direct to London.

Also by the end of the 19th century, the railway had arrived at Bude and Holsworthy from Okehampton via a junction at Halwill.

By the early 1900s it was also possible to take a direct train to London from Bude and Holsworthy.

By 1926 this through service became known as the Atlantic Coast Ex­press, leaving London at 11am, arriving in Launceston at 4.05pm and Padstow just over an hour later. A coach was detached at Halwill arriving at Bude just before 5pm.

During the early 1960s, British Railways started to run down the train services to the area; first to go was the direct service to Plymouth in December 1962. By 1964 the Atlantic Coast Express had stopped running and there was no longer a train direct to London.

Towards the end of the summer of 1966 only four trains a day ran from Launceston to Okehampton. The station closed in October that year.

The idea to hold such an event as this was first mooted some ten years ago by Andrew Bird, chair of the Launceston Railway Circle, and the late Peter Baker.

In 2006, they held an event on a much smaller scale in the Dingley Hall to mark the 40th anniversary.

"Peter said to me you ought to do that for the whole town next time. Eighteen months ago I thought, ‘are we going to do this?’ That’s when it evolved.

"I’m just fascinated by it. They just wanted to get rid of it. Now we’ve got the longest stretch of coastline between Barnstaple and Newquay that doesn’t have a rail link."

The event will be looking back to what life was like in Launceston and the surrounding area in the mid 60s when the railway closed, and what if any its effects had on the area.

As well as showing some fascinating film of the last day of running, a then and now section has been produced of all the stations between Okehampton and Wadebridge, showing what they looked like then and what, if anything, is left today.

There will be a talk by Lord Faulkner of Worcester. He is the co-author of two books relating to the way the railways of this country were treated by previous govern­ments in the past.

He will give a short presentation about the rail closures in the 1960s, including that of the North Cornwall line.

The then and now presentation will be given by Bernard Mills and Geoff Chegwin, and Scott Mann, North Cornwall Conservative MP will briefly talk about the particular pressure that is being put on the government to improve the transport links in this area.

There will be a raffle with many prizes, mostly railway orientated, to raise money for the railway circle, with proceeds going towards the group’s desire to purchase a projector.

Teas and coffees will be provided by the Launceston branch of the Royal British Legion.

The event takes place tomorrow evening (Friday) at Launceston Town Hall. Doors open at 6.45pm and there is no admission charge.

The event will also give anyone interested the chance to find out more about the Launceston Railway Circle.

The group, open to young and old, holds eight meetings a year in the Dingley Hall. They look at past and present railways and have about three summer visits to railways or anything of interest to railway enthusiasts.