{"id":6701,"date":"2023-06-08T14:57:34","date_gmt":"2023-06-08T13:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/therailwaydog.co.uk\/?p=6701"},"modified":"2023-06-08T14:57:34","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T13:57:34","slug":"yoshi-goes-to-cornwall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/therailwaydog.co.uk\/?p=6701","title":{"rendered":"Yoshi Goes To Cornwall"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Did Yoshi discover King Arthur at Tintagel during our trip to Cornwall? “Gallos”(meaning ‘power’ in Cornish) created by sculptor Rubin Eynon is an 8ft bronze sculpture standing above cliffs on the Atlantic coast-side of the castle – 22\/03\/2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Yoshi with the new Tintagel Bridge in the background which reinstates the original route to the castle. In the Middle Ages, Tintagel’s residents walked from one side of the site to the other using a narrow land bridge as high as the clifftops. But the crossing disappeared between the 14th and 17th centuries, leaving the castle divided by a natural chasm. English Heritage launched a competition in 2015 to find a design for a new bridge. The winning concept was created by Ney & Partners Civil Engineers and William Matthews Associates. The project was completed in August 2019. The design sees two cantilevers reach out and meet, not quite touching, with a 40mm gap in the middle. The gap represents the transition from the mainland to the island, present to past. The bridge is paved with Cornish Delabole slate, with stainless steel balustrades fitted along its length. The balustrades have been designed to be so fine that, when viewed from a distance, they disappear against the sky – 22\/03\/2023
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As mentioned in our last blog, we recently spent a few days in Cornwall. This gave me the opportunity to see some of the remaining semaphore signals on the Great Western mainline and also GWR sleeper trains arriving and departing from Penzance. We stayed in Camelford for three nights before moving onto Penzance for a couple of days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While we were in the Camelford area we visited Padstow and Bodmin and we were able to walk along some disused railway trackbed which now forms the Camel Trail; an 18 mile largely traffic free, surfaced and virtually level multi use trail. It provides access to the beautiful Cornish countryside between Wenfordbridge, Bodmin, Wadebridge and Padstow and is suitable for walkers, cyclists, horse-riders and wheel-chair users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The former Padstow railway station, the western terminus of the North Cornwall Railway. It was opened in 1899 by the London and South Western Railway and closed in 1967 following the Beeching report. The building currently houses the offices of Padstow Town Council – 22\/05\/2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We walked from Padstow towards Wadebridge and from Bodmin, we also walked in the direction of Wadebridge as the trail follows the paths of two former railway lines; a section of the North Cornwall Railway between Padstow and Wadebridge and most of the Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway from Wadebridge to Wenford Bridge, along with a short branch from that line to Bodmin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway was originally built at a cost of \u00a335,000 following a study commissioned in 1831 by local landowner Sir William Molesworth of Pencarrow. The line was intended to carry sand from the Camel estuary to inland farms for use as fertiliser. In the 1840\u2019s, England’s railway network expanded towards Bodmin. The London and South Western Railway (LSWR) purchased the Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway in 1846 and intended to connect it to the rest of the system by a new line through North Cornwall. The line from Halwill reached Wadebridge in June 1895 and then Padstow in March 1899. Later the railway was used to ship slate and china clay from inland quarries to ships in Padstow and also transport fish landed in Padstow inland to London and other cities. When both quarrying and fishing died off, the railway lost most of its traffic. The last passenger train ran in 1967 and freight ceased in 1983, when a need to invest in new track forced the line to close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On leaving Padstow, the Camel Trail crosses Petherick Creek on this bridge which formerly carried the North Cornwall Railway – 22\/05\/2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Petherick Creek bridge. Construction began in December 1896 with the erection of temporary staging over Little Petherick Creek, a mile south-east of Padstow. This facilitated construction of a bridge comprising three spans of 133 feet each, curving to the north on a radius of about 20 chains. It was built by contractors from Derby, Messrs Eastwood Swingler & Co. The spans are formed of two Pratt trusses, together with nine cross girders and three wind braces, giving a deck width of 16 feet 3 inches. Two rail bearers are also provided. The ironwork was brought by rail to Wadebridge before being carried on barges to site down the River Camel. Each truss weighs 350 tons. Heading towards Padstow, the structure is approached on a 230-yard embankment, protected by revetments. This incorporates a brick and slate arched bridge at its east end.The main bridge’s abutments are formed in brick and concrete. Supporting the spans are two piers incorporating pairs of cast iron cylinders, 8 feet in diameter and at 18 feet 3 inch centres. These are braced at the top. Rail level is approximately 85 feet above bedrock, 30 feet above the river bed and 16 feet above high water level. At the top of the cylinders are granite bedstones and cast iron bearings.The contractor experienced considerable difficulty assembling the piers. Each 200-ton cylinder was loaded with a 50 ton weight, causing it to sink through the river silt. With bedrock found, the mud was then excavated using grabs, sometimes taking 48 hours to progress just one yard down. When the water had been pumped out and the interior cleaned, they were then filled with concrete – 22\/05\/2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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