As the summer arrives, my thoughts inevitably turn to those fondly remembered holidays in the West Country and the wonderful branch lines, which served the coastal resorts of the area which the Great Western Railway called the Cornish Riviera. Most of those branch lines which survive, though now exclusively used by holidaymakers and tourists, had their origins in commercial use. For instance, the truly fabulous St.Ives branch served the mackerel fishing industry and the Newquay branch, at its landward end, was all about china clay.
Despite the kaolin (china clay) and the fishing industry, however, Cornwall is an agricultural county. Few readers will, I suspect, be unaware of the extensive seasonal traffic in cauliflower and broccoli which was carried in temporarily commandeered cattle wagons from as far west as Ponsandine sidings at Penzance.
However, it was the discovery that the salt sand from the coast, and lime, counteracted the acidity of the soil which made Cornwall's agricultural land so productive, and that sand had to be transported inland. Initially, sand from the coast at Looe was brought inland by the Liskeard & Looe Union Canal. At just under six miles long, and rising 145ft from Looe to Moorswater, it had
