Information panels telling stories of the impact of the railway in the south west of England have been put up in stations as part of national celebrations.
The Fantastic Facts project is taking place because this year marks the 200th anniversary of the modern railway.
Mike Parker-Bray, from the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership, said the stories range from “the circus and all the elephants being taken down to Newquay” to “how guano, the fancy word for bird poo, was a big traffic in Topsham”.
The 12 panels have a short version of each story relating to the station where they have been installed, but longer versions are available online.
The stories on the panels have been written with the help of local historians.
Archivist Clive Charleton said the arrival of the railway to Bere Alston was vital to the fruit and flower growing industry in the Tamar Valley, which until then had only been able to sell its produce in Plymouth.
“There would be something like 20 or 21 whole specialist trains, their freight wagons full up with flowers from the Tamar Valley, which would be taken up to Waterloo, or some of them going to Cardiff, to Birmingham, or as far away as Glasgow,” he said.
In Truro station, the panel tells the story of how time itself had to change in Cornwall.
Historian Bert Biscoe explained: “The council resolved to change from setting the town clock by the sun, to setting it by railway time because in May of 1859, Prince Albert was to open the Royal Albert Bridge and completely revolutionise the connection of Cornwall to the mainland of Britain.”