Nothing can match the importance of Flora Day in the Helston calendar, but this year another celebration took place the day afterwards marking significant events in the transport history of the town.

A plaque was presented on Wednesday by Elizabeth Bolitho at Hens Horn Court, on the site of the former Helston Railway Goods Shed, to commemorate the opening of the Helston Railway between Helston and Gwinear Road.

The first train on this line ran exactly 125 years ago that day, on May 9, 1887.

The plaque was presented on behalf of the Helston Railway Preservation Society to the Directors of Coastline Housing, who now own and manage Hens Horn Court as sheltered housing, and Margaret Williamson who is their longest staying resident.

Also marked, by the presentation of a |second plaque, was the terminus at the Lizard where the first railway company operated bus service ran in 1903.

Robert Nettleton, chief executive of Coastline Housing said: “On behalf of Coastline I am delighted that there will now be a plaque providing a permanent reminder of the historical value of a building that is much used by the residents of Hens Horn Court.”

Alan Burton, the chairman of trustees of the Helston Railway Charity said: “This marks a real milestone in the history of the railway, particularly as now 125 years after the first train made its way from Helston, and some 50 years after the railway was closed, there are again trains running on the part of the line that our volunteers have restored.”

At the event in Hens Horn Court, a new book about the 125 years of the Helston Railway by Chris Heaps was launched.

This book also covers the history of the bus service to The Lizard and copies of the book are available for sale from the railway charity.

After refreshments in the former goods shed, now restored as part of the Hens Horn Court sheltered housing development, the invited guests and Railway Volunteers were conveyed to The Lizard in a number of restored buses.

These included a 1933 ex-Western National single decker provided by The Thames Valley & Great Western Omnibus Trust; a former First Western National Bristol VR double decker restored to former Great Western Railway (“GWR”) chocolate and cream livery in 2003 and supplied by the Cornwall Bus Preservation Society, and an ex-London Transport Routemaster |preserved by Western Greyhound.

At The Top House Inn at the Lizard, a Transport Trust Red Wheel plaque was unveiled by Mrs Bolitho, which was affixed on the wall of the pub to mark the terminus of the first railway-operated motor bus service in Great Britain.

This ground breaking bus service was introduced by the GWR in August 1903 |following demand for the construction of a light railway from Helston which the GWR had determined would not be financially viable.