It's a long time since I've found myself heading south on a Saturday morning. Prepared a flask of coffee knowing that catering wasn't something First Great Western believed in on 'local' services and headed for the station. There were always a good selection of destinations on a Saturday before the regularised timetable appeared, and I recall direct trains to Penzance being fairly common. This however is now the only one, but with an 0557 start, arriving at Bodmin Parkway a few minutes before 0900 it was idea l for todays festivities. A nice, easy run down watching cloudy slate-coloured skies turning brighter. Once past Newton Abbot I was in territory I hadn't seen for nearly four years, and beyond Plymouth for a good deal longer! Recalled a pleasant week spent down here on a Freedom of the South West Rover about twleve years back as we ambled further into Cornwall.

On arrival at Bodmin, immediately made for the Signal Box. A small cafe which left a big impression when I last visited. Good to note it was still serving excellent breakfasts. Passed some time eating, drinking and chatting before heading for the Bodmin & Wenford Railway platform for the first locomotive hauled train of the day for us. Met a few familiar faces waiting, and soon heard the sound of 37142 rounding the curve with a short four-coach train. Attempted to collect tickets as planned from the Ticket Inspector, but was referred to Bodmin General station. Settled in for the brief ride up the hill to the town, with 37142 making a good racket up front. As we made our ascent, the sunshine appeared - and stayed around for much of the day in bursts here and there.

Once at Bodmin, a mad run for the queue. Collected tickets and made it back onto the train for the return run to Parkway. The pattern became clear - a couple of locos would queue up ready to take the next train. We'd arrive, drop our loco in the platform and be hauled out by one or two of the waiting locos. Once we'd left there would be some shunting around to get things in order for the next train. By my calculations we could cover all of the locos working - but the surprise addition of Colas Rail's 47727 to the roster in addition to 47749 had made this more complicated. Decided to stick to plan, have a break and a wander into Bodmin after the 12:10 arrival at General, and not worry too much about the consequences.

So, as planned had a couple of spins up to Parkway, then took the other branch to Boscarne Junction where the line formerly continued to Wadebridge and Padstow - an aspiration for the current operators too. The diesel locos based at the railway performed excellently throughout, and were in fine form. Despite being a small railway in terms of track length, the Bodmin ∧ Wenford could show bigger cousins a thing or two! Particularly good to see 47306 The Sapper working trains after spending a long, long time apparently abandoned at St. Blazey until moving here last year. On arriving back at General, took some shots of the shunting manoeuvres then headed down the hill into town. A pleasant, rather small town centre dominated by the Shire Hall and courts. Found a betting shop to ensure the Grand National was covered, and then grabbed a bite to eat before struggling up the hill on a painful knee for the 13:05 departure to Boscarne Junction.

It soon became clear that 47727 would indeed be the loco which we missed by taking lunch at the time we chose. Disappointing, but it seems from future planned galas that Colas are interested to allow their machines to be seen and used for such trips - so perhaps it won't be long before this one is on a train again. Instead, had some solo runs out to Boscarne with the railway's own 50042 and 37142 both of which provided a great deal of entertainment. Finished the day with a run back down to Parkway with 47306 and 47749. A few more pictures before it departed, then a surprisingly warm and sunny wait for the service train to Plymouth. On arrival, had to wait only a few moments for D1015 to appear working the return leg of its 'Royal Duchy' tour. A good day for heritage traction in the south west!

Changed onto a busy but swift Voyager up to Taunton, and a very brief wait before getting the local unit home, arriving a couple of minutes early after a very good day out with no problems at all. The good old-fashioned preserved railway diesel gala appears to have gone out of fashion these past few years. So its good to see a few such events cropping up around the country this spring, and I can only hope our more local railways take note!