Bodmin Parkway railway station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bodmin Parkway | |
 |
|
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Place | Bodmin |
| Local authority | North Cornwall |
| Operations | |
| Managed by | First Great Western |
| Platforms in use | 3 |
| Annual entry/exit 04/05 | 0.158 million ** |
| History | |
| 27 June 1859 | Opened |
| National Rail - UK railway stations | |
| ** based on sales of tickets in 2004/05 financial year which end or originate at Bodmin Parkway. Disclaimer (PDF) | |
Bodmin Parkway railway station serves the nearby town of Bodmin, Cornwall, England. The station is situated south of the town with the Bodmin and Wenford steam railway operating the branch to the town. First Great Western operate the station along with every other station in Cornwall. Both local and long-distance trains, including the Night Riviera sleeper sevice, call at the station.
The entrance is on the platform served by trains to Penzance. A second platform is reached by footbridge which is served by trains to Plymouth and Paddington. The opposite side of this platform is for the trains of the Bodmin and Wenford steam railway.
The bus link to Bodmin, Wadebridge and Padstow starts from outside the main entrance. Visitors to Lanhydrock House should turn right outside the station and follow the path that leads under the railway line.
[edit] History
Bodmin was the most important town in Cornwall when the Cornwall Railway opened on 4 May 1859. Original proposals to build a branch to the town failed as the company could not raise enough capital, so instead they decided to open a station called "Bodmin Road" at a convenient point. As the agreement with Lord Vivian who owned the estate forbade the construction of a station in the estate and protracted negotiations were necessary before a new agreement could be reached. When the railway opened on 4 May 1859 all that could be reported was that: "No station has yet been erected for Bodmin, owing to the site not having been immediately determined upon. It will be either near to Glynn Bridge or "Respryn" Bridge, and until it is completed, the Bodmin traffic will be accommodated at a temporary wooden shed erected near the latter place." Respryn was near the entrance to Lanhydrock House, the home of Mr Robartes, a railway supporter.
The new station was finally ready to open on 27 June 1859 and was named "Bodmin Road". Because of its remote location the station master was paid five pounds by the Post Office to carry out the duties of post master. He also received a special lodging allowance until a house could be provided for him two years later.
A goods shed was built in 1860 at the east end of the station, behind the platform for trains to Plymouth and cattle pens were added the following year.
A footbridge across the line was built by Mr Robartes in 1860 to enable visitors to reach Lanhydrock more easily. This was later replaced by a passage beneath the tracks. This path is still used by visitors to this National Trust property who arrive by train.
In 1863 a Bodmin, Wadebridge and Cornwall Junction Railway was proposed to connect the Cornwall Railway at Bodmin Road with the Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway at Bodmin, an isolated standard gauge line owned by the London and South Western Railway. In 1864 an agreement was reached with the Cornwall Railway to work the line once it was completed, and an Act of Parliament was obtained. Capital proved difficult to raise and so the scheme failed.
The line was eventually built by the Great Western Railway, opening on 27 May 1887; this meant that the goods shed had to be moved to the opposite end of the station to make room for the branch platform. This was a standard gauge line and so traffic from Bodmin to the Cornwall Railway had to be transferred at Bodmin Road until the broad gauge was converted over the weekend of 21 May 1892.
On 18 April 1895 a train derailed shortly after leaving Bodmin Road on the way to Lostwithiel. Both the 3521 class 0-4-4-T locomotives left the rails on a curve and dragged nearly the whole of the train with them. No one was killed. It is thought that the track had been damaged by the preceding train, but the 3521 class locomotives were subsequently banned from working in pairs and were taken off fast trains until rebuilt as 4-4-0 tender locomotives.
The Cornwall Railway had been amalgamated into the Great Western Railway on 1 July 1889. The Great Western Railway was nationalised into British Railways from 1 January 1948 which was in privatised in the 1990s.
The station was renamed "Bodmin Parkway" by British Rail to bring it in line with many other stations which are marketed to attract road users such as Tiverton Parkway and Bristol Parkway.
[edit] References
- The records of the railway companies can be consulted at The National Archives at Kew.
- West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser, Railway Special Edition, 1859.
- The Great Western Railway in East Cornwall, Alan Bennett, Runpast Publishing, Cheltenham 1990, ISBN 1-870754-11-5
[edit] External links
- Train times and station information for Bodmin Parkway railway station from National Rail
- Street map and aerial photo of Bodmin Parkway railway station from Multimap.com
| Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liskeard | First Great Western Great Western Main Line |
Lostwithiel * or Par |
||
| Liskeard | Virgin Trains Cross-Country Route |
Par | ||
| Liskeard | South West Trains very limited service |
Lostwithiel | ||
 Heritage railways |
||||
| Terminus | Bodmin and Wenford Railway | Colesloggett Halt | ||
| * Not all trains call at this station | ||||
|}
