Lelant railway station

Lelant railway station (Lannanta) is on the waterfront of the Hayle estuary below the village of Lelant in Cornwall, United Kingdom.

History
The station was opened by the Great Western Railway on 1 June 1877 on their new branch line from St Erth to St Ives. No goods sidings were ever provided at the station, but a line was laid from the station out to sidings on Lelant Wharf where traffic could be transferred between railway wagons and boats. The St Ives branch was laid using broad gauge, but in October 1888 a third rail was added to the line from St Erth to allow  standard gauge goods trains to reach the wharf. The last broad gauge train ran on Friday 20 May 1892; since the following Monday all trains have been standard gauge.

Goods traffic was withdrawn in May 1956 and the station is now unstaffed. The original wooden station building is now a private dwelling and has been extended in a sympathetic style. The village is at the top of the road that climbs the hill opposite the station entrance. The Old Station house was renovated in July 2009 and serves cream teas. A level crossing at the St Erth end of the platform gave access to a slipway with the crossing gates hung on granite pillars in the local style. Three of these pillars still stand by the line.

In 2022, the platform was extended by 13 m to allow it to accommodate trains with five carriages.

Description
The station is 1 mi north of St Erth and faces the Hayle Estuary. There is just a single platform, which is on the left of trains arriving from St Erth.

Limited car parking is available, adjacent to the platform. The village is at the top of the road that climbs the hill opposite the station entrance.

Services
The station was served for several years by a very limited service of trains. Since May 2019, due to the reduction of services at Lelant Saltings, the station now has a more regular service with typically a train every 90 minutes between St Erth and St Ives, although it is generally hourly at the start and end of the day. On Sundays, the station has a very irregular service, with 4 trains each way.

Lelant is a request stop. This means passengers wanting to join the train need to signal to the driver, and those who wish to alight need to inform the conductor.

Cultural references
In the book, "Tiny Stations", Lelant is the first station Dixe Wills visits on his tour of UK request stops.