Bodmin Parkway railway station () is on the Cornish Main Line that serves the nearby town of Bodmin and other parts of mid-Cornwall, England. It is situated south-east of the town of Bodmin in the civil parish of St Winnow, from measured via and . Network Rail’s National Rail Timetable dated May 2023 records the distance from London Paddington to Bodmin Parkway as 252.50 miles.
Great Western Railway manages the station and operates most of the train services, although CrossCountry operates some long-distance services. The Bodmin and Wenford Railway operates a heritage service on the branch to the town on certain days.
History
Drawings held by Network Rail show that the Liskeard Contract section of Cornwall Railway’s Plymouth to Falmouth scheme, within which Bodmin Road Station was eventually situated, had reached the detailed design stage by June 1854. Original proposals to build a branch to Bodmin, then the most important town in Cornwall, failed as the company was unable to raise enough capital. Instead they opted for a station at a convenient point on their main line. The most suitable location lay within the Glynn Estate, but as their agreement with Charles Crespigny Vivian, the landowner, forbade the construction of a station within his grounds, protracted negotiations were necessary before a new agreement could be reached. When the railway opened on 4 May 1859, all that could be reported was that: "No station has yet been erected for Bodmin, owing to the site not having been immediately determined upon. It will be either near to Glynn Bridge or "Respryn" Bridge and, until it is completed, the Bodmin traffic will be accommodated at a temporary wooden shed erected near the latter place." Respryn was near the entrance to Lanhydrock House, the home of Thomas James Agar-Robartes, 1st Baron Robartes, a railway supporter.
The new station was finally ready to open on 27 June 1859 and was named 'Bodmin Road'. Because of its remote location, the station master was paid five pounds by the Post Office to carry out the duties of postmaster. He also received a special lodging allowance until a house could be provided for him two years later. A goods shed was built in 1860 at the east end of the station, behind the platform for trains to Plymouth, and cattle pens were added the following year. A footbridge across the line was built by Mr Robartes in 1860 to enable visitors to reach Lanhydrock more easily. This was later replaced by a passage beneath the tracks. This path is still used by those visitors to this National Trust property who arrive by train.
Proposals were made in 1863 for a Bodmin, Wadebridge and Cornwall Junction Railway to connect the Cornwall Railway at Bodmin Road with the Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway at Bodmin, an isolated standard gauge line owned by the London and South Western Railway. An agreement was reached in 1864 for the Cornwall Railway to work the line once it was completed, and an Act of Parliament was obtained. Capital proved difficult to raise and so the scheme failed. The line was eventually built by the Great Western Railway, opening on 27 May 1887. The branch line served the rear of the up (eastbound) platform which meant that the goods shed had to be moved from that area to the opposite end of the station. Lord Robarte's footbridge was also in the way so was replaced by a new path under the railway near the goods shed. The main building, which was on the down platform, was extended and a covered footbridge provided between the platforms. The branch was a standard gauge line and so traffic from Bodmin to the Cornwall Railway had to be transferred at Bodmin Road until the broad gauge line was converted over the weekend of 21 May 1892.
The station was further rebuilt in 1896. The platform was lengthened and the goods yard enlarged goods yard were provided.
The Cornwall Railway was originally a single track broad gauge line, but a passing loop at Bodmin Road allowed trains to pass. The railway company was amalgamated into the Great Western Railway on 1 July 1889. After the route had been narrowed to standard gauge in 1892 i work started to lay a second track. The second track westwards to opened on 2 July 1893 and eastwards to on 22 December 1893.
The Great Western Railway was nationalised into British Railways from 1 January 1948.
In 1958, John Betjeman (who was the poet laureate from 1972 to 1984) wrote in a letter to his friend Peggy Thomas: