on 2 August 1859 with the line to Paignton, but remained a distance away from the town centre and harbourside, although ideally placed for Torre Abbey Sands. The railways also had a great effect on the surrounding towns and countryside, and as the years passed Torquay grew in importance because of its railway links, to the detriment of many of the formerly important towns of Devon as the trains passed by them without stopping, taking their former prosperity with them. Within decades these towns had died economically and their populations migrated away, many to the growing conurbation of Torquay boosting its population further. Isambard Kingdom Brunel was an important figure in Torquay's history during this period, he built the nearby Atmospheric railway and the rail links to Torquay, and had begun buying up large areas of the Watcombe district of Torquay where he had planned to retire in his old age, but he died early and never reached his retirement. While the well-to-do and privileged enjoyed life in the Lincombes and Warberries and other desirable locations with pleasing vistas, the labouring classes of Torquay lived below in overcrowded tenements, such as in George Street, Swan Street and Pimlico. These foetid dwellings in alleyways with open sewers were the homes of the unemployed and the domestic servants, labourers, artisans and others who, although they made the town tick, had to live in conditions where hunger and sanitary problems were a constant threat. In one year 66 people died in six weeks in a cholera epidemic. It is little wonder that many desperate Devonians tried their luck abroad, with the sailing ship Elizabeth, Isabella and Margaret taking emigrants from Torquay Harbour to America and Canada. Those they left behind faced a bleak future of low pay in insecure employment with few rights. The basic diet of working-class families in those days consisted mainly of bread and whatever else could be had, usually cheese and a few vegetables, so when the staple food supply was scarce or too expensive to buy then just surviving was made even harder. In 1846 the potato crop failed and there was a bad harvest, resulting in the price of bread going up steeply and causing 'a great distress among the poor', especially in Ireland where famine followed. But while affluent Torquinians collected over £4,000 for the relief of the Irish, many Devonians were less than happy about