The departure and arrival platforms and two sidings between were covered by two substantial train sheds with wide glazed arches at the end.

[2][page needed] The station closed on 7 September 1964 when the remaining trains were diverted over the Western Region route to St Budeaux.

[1][page needed] 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[4][page needed] 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.

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.

[5] 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.