Two granite gate posts (still showing traces of bomb or enemy aeroplane cannon damage from the Plymouth blitz) outside the Millbay Road entrance are all that is left of the station.

Outside the station was the South Devon Railway headquarters building on the east side of the forecourt and opposite was the independent Duke of Cornwall Hotel which accommodated passengers for the trains and ships.

Trains waiting to depart faced north-eastwards but, crossing Union Street on an iron bridge, the line swung northwards.

It then passed a complex of carriage and engine sheds[5] before reaching Cornwall Junction near the bridge carrying Five Fields Lane (now North Road West), where the line to Penzance diverged to the north-west and that to London turned to the east.

Extensions were laid to the West Wharf and Graving Dock in the late 1870s and, from 18 June 1878 a third rail was added to allow access for London and South Western Railway (LSWR) goods traffic.

On 9 May 1904 City of Truro was the first locomotive recorded in excess of 100 mph (160 km/h) while working one of the GWR's trains, with the whole journey to London taking just 3 hours 54 minutes.

[7] 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 quayside was open to the elements until 1905 when a canopy was provided, although passengers and their luggage were dealt with in the lower floors of some Brunel-designed warehouses.

This in turn was closed on 14 December 1969 when control of the remaining trains was transferred to the new Plymouth Panel Signal Box at North Road.