A Devon and Cornwall Interlude

(To add a little variety, from time to time we might feature the odd jolly to other railways to see how they do things, or other items of interest. Dave was very keen to tell us about his holiday in Cornwall, and I thought it would provide good cover for allowing me to publish some of my gala exploits in the future too! Enjoy - Ed.)

With a week's holiday in north Cornwall in late September approaching, Louise and I were very much looking forward to visiting the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway at Woody Bay on the way down, and exploring the Camel Trail from Wenford Bridge to Padstow, which is based on the tail end of the former Southern Railway's Withered Arm and now a cycle track and walkway.

Having visited Woody Bay numerous times and seen how this delightful little railway has blossomed, the accolade that Steam Railway gave them in the December 2019/January 2020 issue can be fully justified. Woody Bay Station, at 980 feet, is the summit of the line and the wind can certainly make itself felt on cold days. In calm warm weather it is a gem.

I first visited the L&B in 2004 on their special re-opening day. The famous "Perchance it is not dead, but sleepeth" had very much changed to "It's awake!". What particularly made my day was sitting next to a lovely elderly lady who told me that as a young girl she had travelled on the very last train, the famous double-header with nine coaches, on 29th September 1935. On my return home my membership application was soon posted.

 

 

 

In 2004 I never would have dreamt that one day I would travel behind a recreated "Lyn" hauling four restored carriages. A fifth appeared in 2019.

 

 

 

Travelling down gradient to the temporary Killington Lane halt. 

Beyond this the Railway owns the trackbed to the overbridge at Churchtown, the other side of which is the location of the former Parracombe Halt. Roll on the day when we can enjoy a run, not only to there, but eventually Blackmoor Gate.

 

 

 

 

Dave the Guard takes a break before the return to Woody Bay. 

With the line snaking uphill, the 1-in-50 gradient to Woody Bay is particularly noticeable.

 

 

 

 

From Woody Bay, it was back on to the A39 and a two hour drive to Wenford Bridge, a delightfully peaceful hamlet tucked away at the bottom of the Camel river valley.

We were staying in "Troutstream", Robin Moore's lovely holiday cottage. Robin, a former member of C&W, moved down to Cornwall about 4 years ago and is now a volunteer with the Bodmin and Wenford Railway.

When we arrived we found that he had very kindly left us a selection of books based on the Withered Arm, and in particular the Wenford Bridge goods-only branch which was famous for the transportation of china clay.  

Wenford was the farthest outpost of the Southern Railway at 266 track miles from Waterloo. The three little 1874-built Class 0298 Beattie 2-4-0 well tanks that were used on the branch were ideal for the tight bends and because of this they outlasted the rest of the class by 60 years! They were eventually replaced in 1962 by ex-GWR 1366 class 0-6-0 pannier tanks, which in turn were replaced by Class 08 diesel shunters. The Withered Arm closed in 1967, leaving just the Wenford branch which lasted until 1983. Its outlet after 1967 was via Bodmin General, now the Bodmin and Wenford Railway. Two of the Beattie well tanks have been saved.

With a well produced Camel Trail leaflet available and owning a 1948 OS map to provide all the historical on-the-ground information (how nice to see S. R. and G.W.R. annotating the various rail routes), we divided the trail into three walkable sections bearing in mind that each would be "there-and-back" distances.

The first day and our initial trail walk began at Wenford at the excellent Snail Pace Cafe, just five minutes walk from the cottage. The northern half of the trail to Wadebridge largely comprises hard packed stoned ground with some tarmac sections. It is delightfully wooded and with the ever growing Camel River running alongside, it makes for some lovely walking. Bikes can be hired at the cafe but the volume of cyclists on this section is generally light.

Within minutes we were passing the redundant Wenford Dries buildings. These are very extensive and where the high grade china clay slurry was dried before being loaded to the covered wagons.

All along the old line there are signs of its former self with a mix of fencing, both reused sleepers and Southern Railway concrete posts, and occasional humped stones the function of which wasn't clear as any markings had long been covered with moss and lichens. 

The turnaround point of the walk was at Helland where the rails had been left in the road surface. Helland is particularly interesting with its Grade II listed early-15th Century river bridge.

Day 2 and the southern section of the trail, next to the by now very wide river and estuary, promised to be a good contrast to the previous day. However on arriving at Wadebridge, with cycle hire available seemingly everywhere, we began to wonder whether walking this was such a good idea. Although meant for cyclists, walkers, wheelchairs, and even horse riding, as we were very much in the minority and having endured a significant number of near misses from cyclists, we decided to return before reaching Padstow.

I had hoped to reach the iron girder bridge over Little Petherick Creek, which I had walked over on a visit to Padstow in 1984. One of my railway books has a wonderful photo of a T9 "Greyhound" with a two-coach local train passing over this bridge.

The views of the much enlarged Camel and its estuary are excellent and, as can be imagined from the above photo with Padstow in the distance, passengers on this part of the Atlantic Coast Express would have had a very enjoyable end to their long journey from Waterloo.

 

As often happens, the best bit turned out to be the last. The section from Helland to Boscarne on the final day of our holiday ended up being the gem of the Camel trail and in places quite spectacular with the old trackbed on a ledge high above the ever widening river. As with the Wenford-Helland section, walking was much safer with just a small number of cyclists. 

One of several cuttings through the solid rock. 

Just beyond this was a house that was literally accessible only by a very long track winding through the adjacent woodland and crossing the railway in two places.

Another glorious part of the walk. The weather was a mix of sun and heavy showers, one of them hail, but the general cover of trees and the lovely walking made up for the wet spells.

Nearing Dunmere and the A389, the trail suddenly takes a sharp left bend, becoming a new section that joins with the Southern Railway's Wadebridge-Bodmin North part of the Withered Arm. We later came across a footpath which basically followed the original route to Dunmere Junction where the Wenford branch crossed the A389 on the level and then merged with the Bodmin North branch.

With the trail now firmly following the Bodmin-Wadebridge branch, the overall width increased and the surface was generally tarmac. It was also busy with more walkers and cyclists who had come along the spur from Bodmin.

Also present were the old halts, the first of which was Dunmere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little further on and the old line crosses the Camel on a substantial iron bridge, the river being quite some way below.

 

Another few hundred yards and Boscarne Junction is reached. Here the western arm of the Bodmin and Wenford Railway terminates. The B & W are one of the railways that have not so far re-opened following the pandemic, the weedy rusting track very much in evidence of this. However a nice station has been built here and, with the adjacent picnic site, it makes a very pleasant location.

 

 

A little further along we came across an old signal post, complete with its ladder.

 

The next halt at Nanstollon had a thinned platform, the reason being that a holiday cottage had been built behind it. 

After crossing a small lane we came across the Camel Trail Tea Garden for very welcoming tea and cake.

With Grogley Halt and Wadebridge still some way off we decided to make the tea garden our return point.

 

A very detailed and interesting article on the Bodmin-Wadebridge line and the branch to Wenfordbridge can be read at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disused_railway_stations_on_the_Bodmin_to_Wadebridge_line

Overall this had been a very enjoyable holiday and we will certainly be returning to Wenford Bridge next year. Walking the two delightful northern sections of the trail will be top of the list.