‘County’ 4-6-0 No. 1003 County of Wilts departs from Bodmin Road on 20th August 1962. It had been transferred to Laira in January 1961 after spending the previous decade at Shrewsbury and was only two months away from withdrawal.
Late in the life of the then remaining members of its class , 1003 " County of Wilts " , heads a Penzance bound express down through Cornwall and is shown here at Bodmin Road as it then was known .
Destined to be the earliest of the class to be condemned in company with 1007 and 1022 the same year as this photograph the engine revives memories of the nine members the class allocated to Plymouth's Laira , Truro and Penzance in earlier years , those engines performing well on the " switchback " main line through the Duchy of Cornwall , being particularly welll suited to that route with their ability to tackle the many banks unassisted .
Bodmin Parkway , as it is now known , has changed little since the date of this view , that fine covered footbridge happily still remains intact , with the line up to Bodmin General out of shot on the extreme left, that line now forming part of the Bodmin and Weford Heritage Railway