Coombe Junction Halt: Southwest England’s Least Used Train Station

Coombe Junction, situated on the Looe branch line within a wooded valley in rural Cornwall, recorded the lowest passenger usage among train stations in southwest England. From April 2023 to March 2024, a total of 140 passengers either boarded or alighted at this station. John Hosking, 53, who was raised in the residence closest to Coombe Junction Halt and currently resides adjacent to it, recounted his experience as a schoolboy in the 1970s. He regularly commuted by train from this secluded station to attend Trewidland Primary School. He stated, “If I was a bit late the driver would blow the horn, because he knew that we could hear – most of the year I would be the only one on the train.” Hosking further added, “If I was ill and wasn’t going to school that day the guard would come and knock on the door and ask where I was.” A “halt” refers to a station that operates without staff and lacks fundamental amenities such as ticket machines. Coombe Junction Halt is part of the Liskeard to Looe branch line. Services typically call at the station approximately four times daily, with a passenger embarking or disembarking, on average, every two to three days. Most individuals observed at Coombe Junction Halt are dog walkers who utilize the footpath situated between the railway and the former Union canal and its lock gates. Brian Spurling recounted how he would walk his dog along this path and then board a train at the station to rendezvous with his wife returning from work in Looe. He commented, “It is one of the most unique stations in the country with very few passengers ever using it.” Annie Butler mentioned that she uses the station for boarding and alighting trains approximately three or four times annually. She described the location, stating, “It’s the middle of nowhere there’s only about four houses within five miles, two miles maybe. It’s very remote.” The Office of Road and Rail’s compilation of least used stations in the South West also includes three other stations located on the same branch line. These are Sandplace, which recorded 1,006 entries and exits; St Keyne Wishing Well Halt, with 1,506; and Causland, with 1,800. Coombe Junction Halt ranked as the sixth least utilized station across the entire UK. The stations in the South West region that registered the lowest numbers of passenger entries and exits between April 2023 and March 2024 were: This is not the inaugural occasion that Coombe Junction Halt has appeared on this particular list. In 2016, Peter Murnaghan, a retired transport professional, endeavored to alter the usage statistics for this infrequently used station and influence its annual figures. He explained, “We ran the Junction Jaunt in order to lift Coombe Junction Halt, which at that time was the second lowest junction in the whole of the UK.” He continued, “We brought more than 100 people down here to climb aboard the train. “It was absolutely wedged out, but we lifted Coombe Junction Halt off the bottom and it moved respectively up in the league tables for the following year.”” On a national scale, Denton in Greater Manchester held the distinction of being the quietest station, recording 54 entries and exits.