page_title: Devonport Kings Road railway station
section_title: Ocean Quay
hierarchical_section_title: Devonport Kings Road railway station / Ocean Quay
caption_attribution_description: English: The station opened in 1904 with the flagpole on the left flying the American Line flag for the passengers on the St Louis
context_page_description: Devonport Kings Road railway station was the London and South Western Railway station in Devonport, Devon, England. It opened in 1876 and closed in 1964. For the first 14 years it was a terminal station with trains to London departing eastwards, but from 1890 it became a through station with trains to London departing westwards.
context_section_description: A 63 ch (1.3 km) branch from Devonport goods yard to Stonehouse Pool was opened for goods traffic in 1876 and completed the following year. This started next to the signal box and dived down a steep gradient to pass beneath the goods shed in a tunnel.  It then ran alongside Kings Road, crossed beneath the junction of Stonehouse Bridge, Devonport Hill and Richmond Walk, to terminate on the waterside opposite Admiral's Hard slipway.  From 1893 the LSWR started to attract passengers from trans-Atlantic liners and on 9 April 1904 it opened a two-platform Ocean Quay station at Stonehouse Pool, with a 350 ft (110 m) platform, 2 waiting rooms and a customs hall.
  The GWR continued to hold the contract for carrying mail from the liners to London, but a number of the liner companies arranged for the LSWR to carry their passengers.  This caused a race for the fastest train to London with fatal consequences.  On 9 May 1904 City of Truro was the first locomotive recorded in excess of 100 mph while working one of the GWR's trains, with the whole journey to London taking just 3 hours 54 minutes.   The GWR route was shortened by 20¼ miles on 1 July 1906 with the opening of the Castle Cary Cut-Off line that avoided the "Great Way Round" through Bristol Temple Meads, but in the early hours of 30 June 1906 an LSWR special had derailed at high speed passing through Salisbury railway station, after which speeds returned to a more sedate pace, with trains taking around five hours.
  The traffic never lived up to the LSWR's expectations so it closed Ocean Quay on 28 May 1910, after which all ocean traffic was handled by the GWR from Millbay Docks.  The line remained open for freight traffic until 30 May 1970 although the last train had run in 1966.
caption: The station opened in 1904 with the flagpole on the left flying the American Line flag for the passengers on the St Louis, which had arrived 4 hours early
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