TORNADO STARS IN BIGGEST EVER BODMIN EVENT
New-build ‘A1’ No. 60163 Tornado’s recent visit to the Bodmin & Wenford Railway on May 31June 4 was the biggest event in the Cornish branch line’s 34-year history, according to the BWR Publicity Officer Jimmy James. The Peppercorn-designed 4-6-2 was making its debut on the BWR, the largest locomotive ever to grace the railway. Such was the ‘Pacific’s’ size, it was restricted to running between the railway’s headquarters at Bodmin General and the main line connection at Bodmin Parkway, working top-and-tailed with the line’s resident ‘8750’ 0-6-0PT No. 4612. Mr James says: “The event has been a stunning success. 4,300 passengers travelled behind Tornado; compare that to 640 for the same period last year.”. “The interest was phenomenal. Not every train was sold out, but the number of people along the line on each day was huge. Bodmin Parkway looked like Bodmin Road on a summer Saturday in the 1950s. “Our special thanks go to Graeme Bunker and Richard Peck of the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust who made it all happen.”