The Cornwall Railway from Plymouth (Devonport) to Truro was opened in 1859. An extension from Truro to Falmouth was opened in 1863, but for financial reasons this resulted in takeover of the Cornwall Railway Company by the Associated Companies, a consortium of railway companies that included the Great Western Railway, as well as the Bristol & Exeter Railway and the South Devon Railway.
In 1876 the Associated Companies amalgamated as the Great Western Railway. Nevertheless the sixteen stations of the extended Cornwall Railway continued to operate as an administrative unit within the GWR.
In August 1888 as a result of a burglary involving the takings of the Cornwall Railway stations over a Summer Bank Holiday, the station-masters of the sixteen stations had to declare, in court, the takings that had been sent to Devonport on the evening of Monday 6th August. A report in the Royal Cornwall Gazette included the names of the station-masters:
Mr. Thomas Henry Hocking, Falmouth
Mr. George Lovell, Penryn
Mr. Nathaniel Davey, Perranwell
Mr. John Brewer, Truro
Mr. John Oliver, Grampound-road
Mr. Hugh Kent, Burngullow
Mr. Daniel Bailey, St. Austell
Mr. George Lias, Par
Mr. Edward Stephens, Lostwithiel
Mr. John Ross Martin, Bodmin-road
Mr. William Harris, Doublebois
Mr. William Henry Harris Wright, Liskeard
Mr. Samuel Mugford, Menheniot
Mr. Richard Crease, St. Germans
Mr. Robert Ley, Saltash
Mr. James Parsons, Devonport
I plan, in the next few posts, to present the stories of some of these men.
Obscure Victorians 
John Ross Martin was my great grand father. I understand he moved to Lostwithiel and then Truro as station master. His father ran a business in Devonport and died prematurely along with his wife. John Ross was sent to The Royal Masonic School London to complete his education. His son Sidney, my grand father, joined GW working at Truro, Bristol, Shrivenham, Banbury and then Wolverhampton, retiring as Station Master.
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That doesn’t quite fit with my notes: I have him moving from Bodmin Road to Lostwithiel and then, about four years later, to Devonport in 1900/1901. He was a goods clerk at Truro before he went to Bodmin Road.
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