The Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway was a railway line opened in 1834 in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It linked the quays at Wadebridge with the town of Bodmin and also to quarries at Wenfordbridge.Sources use Wenfordbridge and Wenford Bridge interchangeably, but the current Ordnance Survey 1:50 000 maps cite the name as a single word Its intended traffic was minerals to the port at Wadebridge and sea sand, used to improve agricultural land, inwards. Passengers were also carried on part of the line.
It was the first steam-powered railway line in the county and predated the main line to London by 25 years.
It was always desperately short of money, both for initial construction and for actual operation. In 1847 it was purchased by the London and South Western Railway,Christopher Awdry, Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies, Patrick Stephens Limited, Wellingborough, 1990, when that company hoped to gain early access to Cornwall for its network, but in fact those intentions were much delayed, and the little line was long isolated.
China clay extraction was developed at Wenfordbridge and sustained mineral traffic on the line for many years, but passenger use declined and the line closed to passengers in 1967, the china clay traffic continuing until 1978.Dendy Marshall, C F, revised by Kidner, R W, History of the Southern Railway, Ian Allan Limited, Shepperton, 1982
Much of the route now forms part of the Camel Trail, a cycle and footpath from Wenfordbridge to Padstow.
Origins
Local interests obtained an act of Parliament, the (2 & 3 Will. 4. c. xlvii) to construct the Bodmin & Wadebridge Railway from metal ore mines near Wenford to the port at Wadebridge for onward transport by coastal shipping. Sea sand, then used for improving agricultural land, was also to be brought up from Wadebridge. The line was also to have a branch to Bodmin and also a one-mile branch to Ruthern Bridge.
The line was formally opened on 30 September 1834 although trial operation, conveying revenue passengers and minerals had taken place in July. The permanent way consisted of 15 foot parallel As opposed to fish bellied rails rails 42 lbs per yard on stone blocks 20 inches square. The railway used standard track gauge.
At first there was only one locomotive, called "Camel", a single passenger coach, and desperately few wagons, but a second engine, called "Elephant" was obtained from June 1836.
The passenger service only ever operated between Bodmin and Wadebridge, and never on the branches; there were no intermediate stations, but boarding at any intermediate place was semi-officially permitted and passengers were carried in the tool van on both the Ruthernbridge and Wenfordbridge branches.
The train service seems to have been very irregular, probably because of mechanical problems with the locomotives, and for many years (probably from 1841) the passenger service consisted of a train from Wadebridge on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, returning on the other weekdays.Williams, R A, The London & South Western Railway, vol 1, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1968
Minerals and goods were the dominant traffic, and there were numerous wharves—the company used the term borrowed from canal operation, and the person in charge of each wharf was a wharfinger.
Wharves and siding connections were at:Possibly at other locations also
Ruthern Bridge; a goods and mineral terminus on its own branch; this served small mines for copper, lead and iron; Denby Siding; near the later Nanstallon Halt; serving an iron mine; Borough Bounds Wharf, later also known as Dunmere Wharf; on the Wenfordbridge side of Boscarne Junction; grain to Hawke's Mill; Penhargard Siding, mainly used for timber; Helland Wharf; Tresarratt Quarry; Parkyn's Stump Oak; Tresarratt Wharf; WenfordbridgeMitchell, V and Smith, K, Branch Lines Around Bodmin, Middleton Press, Midhurst, 1996
Although export of granite and the carriage of sea sand grew in volume, passenger traffic remained insignificant, and the line remained hopelessly weak financially, and a series of disasters including serious floods which damaged bridges and culverts, wiped out any small operating profit. One notable flood was that of Sunday 25 July 1847 when two bridges were swept away, the event being reported as far away as London.
Takeover In the period from 1835, business interests in the Falmouth area were concerned to regenerate that town's waning importance, and railway connection to London was in their thoughts. Several proposals came forward and failed, but a scheme called the Cornwall & Devon Central Railway gained support for a standard gauge line following an inland route, forming an alliance with other lines to get access to London over the London and South Western Railway. The Cornwall and Devon Central company had yet to get an act of Parliament giving legal powers for construction, but it purchased the Bodmin and Wadebridge line for £35,000.
In fact the C&DC lost out in its bid for approval for its line, and the London & South Western company itself purchased the Bodmin and Wadebridge line for the same £35,000 from the C&DC company in 1847. The LSWR now owned a heavily loss-making little line more than a hundred miles from its own network. The purchase did not have authority in any act of Parliament, and the purchase is often described as illegal. In fact the activities of companies incorporated by act of Parliament were limited by the terms of the act, and the LSWR did not have the power to acquire another railway company; their action in doing so would better be described as ultra vires.
Notwithstanding the remoteness of the new owner, the LSWR brought financial resources to bear and the local line continued its operations with a little more certainty than previously, while still making considerable losses. However the Bodmin and Wadebridge continued to play a role in the battle between the LSWR and its allies, and the GWR and its satellites.
Several nominally independent companies sought support and statutory powers for lines connecting with the Bodmin and Wadebridge; among these was the Launceston, Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway, which obtained powers in the Launceston, Bodmin, and Wadebridge Junction Railway Act 1864 (27 & 28 Vict. c. cclxxxix) but never succeeded in using them.
In 1873 the Devon and Cornwall Railway, a narrow gauge company, tried to obtain parliamentary authority to make extensions in the two counties in its name, including a railway from near Okehampton to Wenfordbridge, so as to gain access to Wadebridge; but this was rejected in Parliament.Williams, R A, The London & South Western Railway, vol 2, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1973
A new halt, called Shooting Range Platform, was opened about 1880. It was long enough for a single coach, located on the south-west side of the line; the shooting range was in the otherwise inaccessible land between the railway and the loop of the River Camel, opposite Derry's Wood. Trains stopped there only with written authority from the Army.
The North Cornwall Railway Act 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. ccliv) authorised the North Cornwall Railway to build a line from Padstow via Wadebridge to Halwill, where the LSWR now had its line; running arrangements for the North Cornwall trains as far as Okehampton were agreed. The North Cornwall Company had wanted running rights as far as Exeter, but by now the LSWR sought friendlier terms with its rival, the GWR, and to avoid offending them, the powers were stopped short at Okehampton. There was to be a triangular junction at Pendevy Bridge, the point where the new Halwill line met the Bodmin & Wadebridge, a little east of Wadebridge, and the act included powers to improve the Bodmin & Wadebridge line, including the making of seven deviations to eliminate the very sharp curves on the line.
In fact, by the South Western Railway (Various Powers) Act 1883 (46 & 47 Vict. c. clxxxix) the LSWR took over the role of making those improvements, and on 1 July 1886 the LSWR formally absorbed the Bodmin and Wadebridge line, the previous semi-legal purchase now being authorised by the South Western Railway Act 1886 (49 & 50 Vict. c. cx) of 25 June 1886.
The GWR arrives in Bodmin The Great Western Railway had formed an alliance with other broad gauge railway companies in the West of England: the grouping was called the Associated Companies. In 1876 they amalgamated under the banner of the Great Western Railway, and that company pursued an active interest in developing railways in Cornwall. In earlier years the Associated Companies and the so-called narrow gauge companies—the LSWR and its allies—were hostile to one another, but now the enmity was abating.
An earlier proposal had been made to make a broad gauge line from the Cornwall Railway near Bodmin Road station to the Bodmin and Wadebridge station at Bodmin, with interchange platforms for the necessary transshipment from broad to standard gauge wagons there. This had been authorised by the Bodmin Railway Act 1864 (27 & 28 Vict. c. clxx), but was dropped in 1876.
By 1882 relations between the GWR and the LSWR had improved enough for constructive discussions to take place about connecting the GWR to Wadebridge, and to improve the Bodmin and Wadebridge line itself. (The line had been constructed with very sharp curves and lightly constructed track.) The Great Western Railway Company got powers to make a standard gauge connection,By then it was obvious that the days of the broad gauge were numbered and on 27 May 1887 the GWR opened a line from Bodmin Road to its own Bodmin station in the town. The station later became known as Bodmin General.
In the following year, on 3 September 1888 the GWR built an extension from their Bodmin station to join the Bodmin and Wadebridge line, at Boscarne Junction.MacDermot, E T, History of the Great Western Railway, vol 2, published by the Great Western Railway, London, 1932
The LSWR now suspended its own passenger trains on the Bodmin and Wadebridge line from 1 November 1886 for the improvements to the line to be undertaken; goods trains were also suspended, and Great Western Railway trains were the only ones on the line, running from their own Bodmin station. Yet another act of Parliament was required, the South-western Railway Act 1891 (54 & 55 Vict. c. cxxi), to permit extension of time for these works, which still included the substantial easing of the sharp curves at Grogley and Dunmere, and substantial improvement of the whole of the section from Boscarne Junction to Bodmin (B&WR station), and extension of Wadebridge station.
Integration with the LSWR lines
Construction of the North Cornwall line from Halwill was much delayed due to difficulty in raising the necessary capital, and after several extensions of time it opened to a special goods train on 31 May 1895 and fully on 1 June 1895. The planned eastern arm of the triangular junction with the Bodmin and Wadebridge having been long forgotten. The North Cornwall converged with the Bodmin and Wadebridge line at Wadebridge Junction, about a mile east of Wadebridge itself.
Padstow had to wait still further, and after yet another act of Parliament, the North Cornwall Railway Act 1894 (57 & 58 Vict. c. clxxxvi), allowing variation the Wadebridge to Padstow section was opened to the public on 27 March 1899.
On 1 November 1895 the LSWR resumed running trains on the Bodmin and Wadebridge section, and therefore journeys from Waterloo to Bodmin, changing at Wadebridge, became feasible, taking from 7 hours 18 minutes to about 9 hours. The GWR continued its service of seven trains a day.
The twentieth century