Cathedrals Express: 'Bodmin' hauls the first regular steam-hauled service from a London terminus since the 1960's

Mid-Hants On The Mainline 2000/1

(Photos of more recent excursions on the main line may be found linked from the Mainline Tours page)

Click for pic of CP departing Winchester 17th October 2001        1st October 2001: This photo of Canadian Pacific hauling The Midlander (29th September 2001) arrived at our HQ with sketchy details, but is apparently from Margaret O'Connell

29th September 2001: Great day out on The Midlander - Daylight Railtour hauled by #35005 'Canadian Pacific'. Whilst at Leicester we picked up Tony Francis, whose company, Kingfisher TV, are producing an item for a program: ' Heart of the Country'. They filmed a piece about the Harringworth Viaduct - see picture. This is on the Corby Line which sees very little traffic, let alone steam trains. The viaduct is 60ft high, has 82 spans, and is Railtrack's longest cross-valley viaduct. Tony produced an excellent program a few years ago about English cuisine, featuring the Watercress Belle.  Photo and report:  Chris Cornell

Daylight Railtours trip to Stratford,   8th September 2001 Martin Creese took this shot of Bodmin and the Green Train at Wilmcote

Its first mainline run since the 1960s was a trial run to Clapham on 3rd June 2000, and it ran weekly summer-autumn excursions ex-London.

"...the route home was lined with people waving; at one level crossing someone flourished a huge union jack flag and people stood on their garage roofs or in their gardens enjoying the nostalgia evoked by this grand old engine steaming by.  I was actually surprised at just how fast we went ..."   -   quoted from the CSMA magazine Motoring & Leisure (Sept 2001) whose correspondent went on an excursion to Canterbury.

'Green Train' at Bath on 6th Sept 2001 Photo:  Chris Cornell

26th August 2001: Pam and Malcolm Lawrence sent this photo they took of Bodmin on 15th August at Canterbury

This shot of Canadian Pacific shows what preservation is all about.  75 mph Photo 16th August 2001 © : Nigel Kendall

26th April 2001: Accelerating through Fleet with a down 'Cathedrals Express' for Salisbury on April 11th 2001 Photo: Nigel Kendall

#34016 at Eastleigh on 22nd March 2001, with Tim's MHR water tender in the car park. Photo: Brian Simmons

Nigel Kendall's report and detailed logs of Bodmin's mainline crew-training runs to Yeovil, 22nd March 2001

SteamWeb Webmaster writes:

Hi Tony,

I thought you might like a couple of shots from the 6th Dec Salisbury trip. One shows 34016 waiting for the road at Eastleigh on the return trip. The other shot shows the driver having a "cuppa" after arrival at Waterloo. (Thank you, Nigel. ...tw)

Nigel Kendall
8th December 2000

What a great day on Saturday (9th September 2000). The loco performed superbly - a terrific run up over Pewsey etc. I'm afraid I didn't get many good photos though - the JPG is of Bodmin late Sat. night (23:00 ish) about to pick up the train and head for Alton. The MPEG is at Minehead and shows the locos that pulled the Green Train back to Bishops Lydeard; a Collet 0-6-0 (gorgeous to those of us brought up in the GWR country) coupled to a 'mystery' West Country Class painted up as the "Hogwarts Express" or something (from Harry Potter). Is it just me or does the Pacific look like Duchess of Hamilton when it's painted pink?! Photo (at Guildford), MPEG and report:  Mike Wells

Steam Dreams:   The Cathedrals Express, 30th August 2000: On time departure Waterloo (picture in The Times, 31st August 2000 showing #34016 with MHR Green Train passing Big Ben at 1104); 2 minutes early on arrival at Salisbury. Photo (at Farnborough): Nigel Kendall Download  M-peg of Bodmin at speed near Basingstoke making up time. Video: Mike Wells

2nd June 2000: Bodmin visits Alresford on a proving run, to general admiration. Beside the cab wearing green tie is Jim Swift, who organised Bodmin's Boiler Fund ab initio.  Proud day for him.  He later rode to Alton and back on the footplate, puffing contentedly with his pipe. Photo:  Chris Cornell

3rd June 2000 'All Well With Bodmin - Hounslow 11:05am' Photo and report kindly e-mailed within 2hrs by Hugh Rhys

Here's an e-mail received 7th June 2000 from Stephen Hoadley :
I thought I would offer you an account of my unexpected encounter with Bodmin at Clapham Carriage Sidings on Saturday (3rd June). I was going up to Town from my home in Strawberry Hill when at Clapham Junction I saw a Deltic. "That's marginally interesting," thought I, "I'll stop off and have a look."   When I got to the platform I noticed in the distance the back end of a green Mk 1 coach with a steam locomotive attached to the far end. Overheard conversations confirmed that it was Bodmin and that it was due off in about 20 minutes. I waited, and right on cue there was a brief whistle and a rush of steam from the cylinder drain cocks. The sight of an immaculate Bulleid pacific at Clapham was very inspiring indeed!  The loco propelled its light load towards Waterloo, crossed over and returned through platform 6 to the astonishment of onlookers waiting for the next service to Reading. Without coming to a stand the ensemble 'got the road' and with the driver's gentle tug on the regulator a plume of white exhaust issued from the chimney. John Bunch was visible on the footplate, beaming from ear to ear.  Within seconds Bodmin was back on its way home to Ropley. I must admit to feeling more than a slight pang of emotion!  Here's looking forward to a long and distinguished main line career for 34016!

3rd June 2000 #34016 Bodmin returns to Alton from it's main line test run to Clapham on Saturday 3 June 2000. As the loco and support coach ran into platform 2 spontaneous applause erupted out from passengers and staff alike. A few 'Rufty Tufty' MHR Locomotive members appeared to have watery eyes, yours truly has to admit to a lump in the throat. A strangely emotional occasion which brought home the point that the MHR Flagship loco was back, and didn't it look and sound magnificent. Photo and report from Jim Russell

Bodmin back at Ropley from its first mainline trial. 3rd June 2000 Photo:  Chris Cornell Bodmin's Restoration

4th June 2000:  Bodmin in service at MHR, here seen at Alresford, held on the steam brake, with the down train for Itchen Abbas and Winchester.   ( If only ...! ) Photo:  Chris Cornell

The first revenue-earning mainline run (load test to Salisbury) was on 10th June 2000.   Bodmin at Salisbury.     Photo:  Robin Silman

10th June 2000:   Report from our correspondent on the train on 10th June, David Charlesworth:

Some idea of the day's performance came after clocking the rail joints at Crowthorne giving 71mph. Timing mile posts on the way to Salisbury gave 73, confirmed by somebody with a GPS. The driver was telling people he got 75 on the dial. On the way back quarter mile posts gave steady 12.x secs, then faster. Half miles to improve accuracy gave 23.x secs. The engine just wanted to go.

It's been a long time coming, but Bodmin's back!!

10th June 2000 Clive Holliday and Neil Davis took Bodmin back into Ropley loco yard after the successful Salisbury load test run. Photo:  Tony Wood

29th June 2000:   Bodmin awaits departure from Victoria yesterday on the first of the Cathedrals Express mainline dining trains  to Canterbury. Photo:  Chris Cornell Interesting destination: MHR runs alongside The Old Road (Winchester - Canterbury) used by pilgrims for centuries.

"WEYMOUTH TRIP 15 JULY 2000 Bodmin at Swanwick Station this morning at 0917. It was a hurried shot as Bodmin was goin' a goodun." Photo and report above:  Jim Russell

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