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NEARBY ATTRACTION:
Bodmin And Wenford Railway |
| Bodmin
Cornwall England Tourist Attractions and tourist information. |
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This railway is Cornwall's only standard gauge railway still operated by steam locomotives and the trains run through some delightful Cornish scenery. The Railway is typical of a branch line in the 1950's. Steam tank engines are the main locomotives to be seen here but diesel traction is also used, particularly on Saturdays. The main station on the line is at Bodmin General. The engine sheds are here, as well as a Souvenir shop and refreshment room in the restored station buildings. Boscarne Junction provides a direct link with the "Camel Trail", the cycle and footpath running to Padstow along the route of the old Bodmin & Wadebridge Railway. Bodmin Parkway station is on the main rail line from London to Penzance and has a beautiful walk along the old carriage drive to the Lanhydrock House. Trains operate from March to December - daily from May to September and there are lots of Special Events. Today's Bodmin & Wenford Railway is just part of a network of railways that grew up around the town of Bodmin. The story starts with one of the very first railways in the world - the Bodmin & Wadebridge Railway. The Bodmin & Wadebridge Railway was built at a cost of £35,000 following a study commissioned in 1831 by local landowner Sir William Molesworth of Pencarrow. The line from Wadebridge to Wenfordbridge, with a branch to Bodmin, was intended to carry sand from the Camel estuary to inland farms for use as fertiliser. Reporting the opening of the Bodmin & Wadebridge Railway in 1834, the "West Briton" stated: "A more grand and imposing sight was never, perhaps, witnessed in the county". It was the first steam-worked railway in Cornwall, and one of the first in Britain to carry passengers. In the 1840s, England's railway network expanded towards Bodmin. The London & South Western Railway purchased the Bodmin & Wadebridge Railway in 1846 and intended to connect it to the rest of the system by a new line through North Cornwall. At the same time, the Cornwall Railway was constructing a line from Plymouth to Falmouth. With the support of the Great Western Railway, this would rival the L&SWR line from Cornwall to London and both sides raced to provide Bodmin (then Cornwall's county town) with a direct railway connection to London.. |
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