34016 Bodmin (SR 21C116, BR s21C116 & 34016)

34016 Bodmin at Arlesford on the Mid Hants Railway - September 2006.jpg

34016 entered service as 21C116 Bodmin after being completed at Brighton in 1945. The official naming being done by the Mayor of Bodmin in August 1946 at Bodmin.

It entered traffic based at Exmouth Junction where it remained for several years. From here it duties including hauling the Devon Belle from Exeter and Ilfracombe and other express passenger trains from Exeter to Plymouth and Salisbury.

Under BR Bodmin was renumbered 34016 repainted Brunswick Green. It was rebuilt in 1958 and then spent time in Kent before the electrification of these lines was completed in 1961.

It was then based at Eastleigh for the locomotive’s final years in service.  During this time Bodmin worked trains between London and Southampton Docks.

BR motive power depot allocations since 1948.

Date ArrivedDepot
January 1948Exmouth Junction
February 1958Ramsgate
May 1959Bricklayers Arms
May 1961Eastleigh

In June 1964 it was withdrawn from service, having covered more than 800,000 miles in service, and sent to the Barry scrapyard of Woodham Brothers where it arrived in November 1964.

It was recovered from Barry by John Bunch and left the yard in July 1972 and moved to Quainton Road near Aylesbury, now part of the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, before moving to the Mid-Hants Railway in 1976. Bodmin re-entered service on the Mid Hants Railway after restoration in 1979. The restoration had taken some 30,000 man hours and earned a special mention in the annual awards of the Association of Railway Preservation Societies.

Bodmin remained at the Mid Hants Railway hauling trains for many years. In 1999 it was withdrawn for heavy general overhaul and when completed in 2000, was fit to run on the mainline. Bodmin then became the main locomotive used on many mainline tours including the newly formed Steam Dreams Cathedrals Express until 2001.

34016 left the Mid Hants Railway in 2014 following the expiry of the loan agreement with John Bunch and is now at the Steamtown Railway Museum Ltd depot at Carnforth (No longer a museum but it is the holding company for West Coast Railways).

It is currently being overhauled at Carnforth with a view to having the locomotive returning to running on the main line.

Home BaseCurrent StatusOwner
Swanage RailwayUnder overhaulJohn Bunch
34016 Bodmin at Eastleigh with a train to Bournemouth – February 1962
34016 Bodmin at Eastleigh - June 1964.jpg
34016 Bodmin at Eastleigh – June 1964
34016 Bodmin in Woodham’s scrapyard at Barry – September 1970
34016 Bodmin en route from Woodham Brothers scrapyard to the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre – 1972
34016 Bodmin at Quainton Road – May 1975
34016 Bodmin at Alresford on the Mid Hants Railway – Circa 1984
34016 Bodmin with the Cathedrals Express for Yeovil Junction passing Sherborne – March 2001
34016 Bodmin at Alresford on the Mid Hants Railway - July 2006.jpg
34016 Bodmin at Alresford on the Mid Hants Railway – July 2006
34016 Bodmin at Arlesford on the Mid Hants Railway - September 2006.jpg
34016 Bodmin at Arlesford on the Mid Hants Railway – September 2006
34016 Bodmin in store at Ropley on the Mid Hants Railway -September 2013
34016 Bodmin at Ropley – January 2015

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