Bodmin & Wenford to Wadebridge re-opening (merged topic)

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

From The (Plymouth) Herald:

Flood-hit railway line reopens after major repairs

A heritage railway line in Cornwall damaged by floods five months ago has reopened after extensive repair work.

The Bodmin and Wenford line was hit after two inches (50mm) of rain fell overnight on November 16-17, washing away ballast support and cutting deep sections of earth.

The flood water is believed to have poured directly on to the railway line from the A38, beside a bridge which carries the main road over the railway, between Colesloggett Halt and Bodmin Parkway.

Repair costs, which run into six figures, have largely been covered by the railway's insurers.

Contractors, KGJ Price Ltd, have completed the work on time and the affected section of line was handed back to the railway on Saturday.

General manager Richard Jones said: "We were all naturally very disappointed over what happened back in November. Thanks to the excellent support we have received from both our insurers and the appointed contractors, we are delighted to be able to report that the Bodmin and Wenford Railway has bounced back and will be fully open for business again from the start of April, and now look forward to our 2011 season with confidence and optimism."

[chrisoates]

Glad they are up and running again - not the most scenic ride but the yard at Bodmin General is great and the ride to Boscarne junction gets me to the Camel trail and a nice walk to Wadebridge.
During the winter deer have been appearing at Bodmin Parkway at dusk via the Bodmin & Wenford track.

 

[Chris from Nailsea]

During the winter deer have been appearing at Bodmin Parkway at dusk via the Bodmin & Wenford track.

Ticket barriers will soon solve that. 

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Cornish Guardian:

On the right track for town centre train link

Reviving a national network passenger train service between Bodmin Parkway and the town centre has taken a major step forward.

Cornwall Council has submitted a bid for the service to be reinstated to the Department of Transport as part of a government consultation on new train operator franchises.

The network service to Bodmin General was stopped in 1967 as part of the Beeching cuts, but councillors and the local business community believe bringing a scheduled passenger service to the centre of Bodmin will be a huge boost to the economy.

Cornwall Council is looking at creating a new administrative complex in Bodmin to serve the east of Cornwall, and for the past two years the local authority has been looking into the feasibility of linking Bodmin Parkway to Bodmin General once again, which would provide improved transport links to the town, including for their own workers.

Cornwall Council owns the Bodmin General Station buildings and is close to finalising a new 35-year lease with leisure steam train operators the Bodmin and Wenford Railway Company, which owns the branch line track to Bodmin Parkway.

Bodmin and Wenford's general manager Richard Jones said the decision on whether the line is reopened for scheduled trains would be up to the train operator that won the franchise.

"We won't have too much of a problem in allowing another train operator to use our track providing it doesn't compromise our own business of running leisure trains,'' he said.

Mr Jones felt upgrading the track may not be necessary. "It depends on how many new train services the operator has in mind. If we are talking about many more trains using the line, then the infrastructure may have to be upgraded.''

The Better Bodmin Group, made up of business people and councillors, has also supported the reinstatement of a passenger train service to the town centre, and has included the proposal in a detailed document forwarded to Cornwall Council, which will be considered as part of Bodmin's programme for regeneration in the coming years.

Bodmin chamber of commerce chairman Chris Wilkes, who is a member of the group, said: "We want to raise visitor numbers substantially.

"This can be done by reintroducing the scheduled rail link to Bodmin General and by developing the town centre as a unique 'must visit' destination."

[eightf48544]

What's the comparative running time for a train < 25 mph compared with a bus?

I wouldn't have thought the line was suitable for a PPM^‡(resolve) I seem to remember the 45XX I travelled on the footplate in 1960 coughed quite a lot getting to Bodmin General even with only 2 on.

[grahame]

DON'T run a PPM^‡(resolve)! Just run a bus - it'll be cheaper and quicker.

If they're going down the rail route, it needs to be >25 mph as well, otherwise - again - you'd might as well run a bus.

Nope - I'm going to disagree with you on that.  No "formal" figures, but we've found that most long distance visitors are happy to change train -> train for the final branch, but not happy to change train -> bus.  It would be very interesting to compare the number of people leaving Plymouth westbound by train destined for Looe, Fowey, Padstow, Newquay, Helston etc, and correllating it to which require a bus to complete the journey and which are train connections.

And if you think that getting train -> train connections to tie in is hard, getting intermodal connections right is a nightmare.

[molinnis]

Just a note for anyone interested, Bodmin and Wenford Railway are holding an open day this Saturday 14th April to attract new volunteers.

All details here :- http://bwronline.co.uk/bwr/timetable/volday.html




Edit note: Thanks for posting this, molinnis - I've added it to our calendar, too. CfN. 

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Cornish Guardian:

Archive secrets of Cornwall's oldest railway

The stories and traditions of a pioneering Westcountry railway have been published in a new book.

Author Michael Messenger has delved into the archives to present a detailed account of the Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway which was Cornwall's first steam railway, opened in 1834. It was worked by primitive steam engines and remained independent of Britain's national railways for more than 60 years.

"It was very much a local railway, funded by the people of Bodmin and the Camel Valley and its purpose was to bring sea-sand inland for agriculture," said Mr Messenger. "It had ambitions to expand to Delabole and beyond, but never got beyond the planning stage."

It was acquired by the London & South Western Railway (LSWR^▸ (London South Western Railway)) in 1846 but that made little difference to its way of working.

Mr Messenger added: "Even when the LSWR had put their own man in, the line kept going in its individual Cornish way. Workers were rewarded with pints of ale or cocoa, and the management had to take care not to break the rule of not working on a Sunday."

While the story of one of Britain's oldest steam railways is well-known, Mr Messenger spent many years delving in archives throughout the country to compile a very detailed history of how the railway worked and was managed, how it served and was part of the community and why it was essential to local industry. He also tells the story of the people who ran it and benefited from it.

Later the line became a little more like a standard British branch line, but kept a character all of its own, says Mr Messenger.

Three of its original carriages, dating from the 1840s, are now in the National Railway Museum in York.

Vintage steam engines worked the line until 1964 and it survived until 1983. The route is now part of the popular Camel Trail walk.

The illustrated book, titled The Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway 1834-1983 is published by Twelveheads Press, priced ^39.

[Andy]

It's too bad that, given its special historical significance, efforts to restore this stretch of line between Bodmin & Wadebridge have not met with more success. Here's hoping that in time a solution may be found which enables rail and trail to coexist.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Steam engine line secures 35-year lease


Trains started running on the line again in 1986

A steam railway line in Cornwall has secured a new 35-year lease, managers say.

The Bodmin and Wenford Railway Trust, which operates 6.5 miles (10.5km) of former branch line track, had been operating on five-year leases.

The new extended lease had been negotiated with Cornwall Council, trust chairman Keith Searle said.

The trust has six operational engines running on the track more than 200 days a year.

The branch line closed to passengers in January 1967 and then completely in November 1983.

A group of volunteers got together in 1984 to work on reopening the line and trains started running again in 1986.

Mr Searle said the organisation originally had one-year renewable leases from the then North Cornwall District Council because there was "no idea whether we'd be successful or not".

The leases were later increased to five years and are now with Cornwall Council, which took over from the previous authority in 2009.

Mr Searle said: "As we improved and business increased and our spending increased, it became obvious that just a five-year lease was not enough. If you want to get grants, you won't get them with that short a lease."

He said he and other trust members were relieved the new lease was in place. "I think the future is looking good," he said.

[Andy]

Excellent news for the Bodmin & Wenford, who can hopefully take full advantage of the added security this agreement provides. Does anyone know if they're moving forward with their plans to extend the half-mile from Boscarne Jcn to Nanstallon Halt?

It's also an encouraging development for other railway groups in the county.

[Cynthia]

The latest proposals to run passenger trains along the Camel Trail have hit the buffers after failing to impress Bodmin councillors.The town council has rejected the ^9 million plan by the Bodmin and Wenford Railway Company which wants to extend the line for trains to run to Wadebridge (link below.)
http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144125&command=displayContent&sourceNode=232450&contentPK=18490064&folderPk=108202&pNodeId=251466

Members are particularly concerned after studying plans that show the Camel Trail would be reduced in width to 2.5 metres to allow a new line to be built.

There would be enough width for two cyclists and two pedestrians to use the trail in the same direction , but councillors say this would be too narrow for oncoming users.

They also feel that cycling and walking are more environmentally friendly than trains.

Cllr Linda Spear said the Bodmin and Wenford Railway was a wonderful tourist attraction , but the Camel Trail was an even better one.


 

Oh, drat and double drat, Mutley.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From This Is The West Country:

Ground breaking ticketing deal for Devon And Cornwall Rail Partnership



After months of behind the scenes hard work and storm damage delays, the Bodmin And Wenford Railway and First Great Western in association with the Plymouth based Devon And Cornwall Rail Partnership were able to announce their ground breaking inclusive ticketing deal.

Believed to be the first such arrangement between a heritage railway and a national railway company, passengers can now travel from any station in Cornwall and Plymouth through to Bodmin General and Boscarne Junction and return for just ^12 (Seniors ^11, Children ^6).

In effect travel on the mainline is free. From any station in Devon (as far apart as Barnstaple and Exmouth, Tiverton and Paignton) the fare is a very good value ^20 (Seniors ^19, Children ^10).

To mark the occasion a special train (Pannier tank no. 6435 and 1881 built GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Special Saloon) with invited guests ran from Bodmin General, and was in the adjoining platform at Bodmin Parkway to coincide with FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s 1119 hours departure to Paddington.

[JayMac]

Whoever wrote the article believes wrong. Inclusive through tickets are available for many heritage railways:

Severn Valley Railway, Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway, Bluebell Railway, Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, Isle of Wight Steam Railway, South Devon Railway, Spa Valley Railway, Ecclesbourne Valley Railway - all offer through tickets from selected National Rail stations. These ticketing arrangements are usually overseen/managed by the National Rail TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) who operate the relevant interchange station.

Also, looking back through fares manuals for previous years I've found through fares for the Bodmin & Wenford Railway. A Through Off Peak Day fare at ^12 (^11 Senior, ^6 Child) from stations in Devon & Cornwall has been in the current fares manual since May.

[alexross42]

It seems the ambition to rebuild to Wadebridge has been reignited in so much that a new(?) website has appeared:

http://www.bodminandwadebridgerailway.co.uk/

Not a lot of info there at the moment but hopefully it'll serve as a useful point for updates on the proposal as and when they're available.