The Bodmin & Wenford Railway – Cornwall’s only standard gauge railway still regularly operated by steam locomotives – celebrates its Silver Jubilee this year.
A ten day gala week of special events and ‘themed days’ from Friday 17 to Sunday 26 June is planned to mark the 25th anniversary of the first ‘proper’ train movements on the line in the preservation era.
The ten-day gala encompasses two special events – the ‘Heritage Transport Festival’ on 18-19 June and a ‘Mixed Traction Weekend’ on 24-26 June – with the week in between divided into a series of specially themed days, each day with a different theme.
The Railway is using its ‘25th Anniversary Week’ to showcase its impressive Cornish-orientated collection of working locomotives – both steam and heritage diesel – all of which will be rostered for duty at some stage during the ten-day event.
The BWR is delighted to be able to confirm that a visiting locomotive has been secured for its ‘25th Anniversary Week’ in the shape of former Southern Railway Class A1X ‘Terrier’ 0-6-0T No 32662 Martello, normally based at Bressingham Steam Museum in Norfolk and recently repainted in later British Railways lined black livery.
Originally designed for the London Brighton & South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) by William Stroudley, Martello entered service on 27 October 1875 following construction at Brighton Works.
No 32662 is making its first ever visit to Cornwall and will be the second ‘Terrier’ to work on the BWR, following in the footsteps of No 3 Bodiam (BR No 32670) from the K&ESR which visited in March 2008.
Martello – which will be rostered to work on several days of the ‘25th Anniversary Week’ – is in effect a replacement for the Bodmin-based London & South Western Railway (LSWR) Beattie well tank No 30587, which has had to be withdrawn from service earlier than expected following discovery of a number of leaking boiler tubes and will thus unfortunately miss the BWR’s ‘25th Anniversary Week’ completely.
Richard Jones, General Manager of the Bodmin & Wenford Railway, comments:
“We were all naturally disappointed by the news of Beattie well tank, but are absolutely delighted to secure a replacement Southern tank engine for our 25th Anniversary gala week in the form of No 32662 Martello.”
“We are really looking forward to celebrating our Silver Jubilee and are extremely grateful to the Bressingham Steam Museum for facilitating the visit of its ‘Terrier’ to Cornwall, undoubtedly the furthest south and west the diminutive locomotive has ever worked!”
