Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

It's fairly standard white settler stuff and it applies whenever any kind of economically beneficial project is proposed in a very rural area, be it a railway or a potash mine or what have you. "How dare you horrid peasants want jobs and a future? Clear off out of my theme park." That's the attitude. Had a mountain bike centre providing a couple of minimum wage jobs and a great deal of congestion and property damage been proposed for the site instead such people would have been up the developers' backsides like rats up a drainpipe.

 

AIUI, providing the planning process correctly adheres to guidelines, descions themselves are sound enough. If you recall the case of the RhE/WHR, the local planners initially found against reinstatement, only for that decision to be kicked upstairs and overturned by then SoS John Prescott.

I'm sure there's something on a thread somewhere giving the exact details of what occured in Gwynedd, how it all related to the legal framework and what colour the locos should have been.

In the case of the L&B, I'd not be surprised if we haven't heard the last of it.... "There's money in them thar appeals courts"! .... rather the reason why I, for one, have found the interminable delays less frustrating than I might. Chances are, with so high profile a project, there would have been rather more communication beteen North Devon and Whitehall than one might normally expect.

The point made by @Rosedale [post #1200] about maximising the return on "the Parracombe Bungalow" is well observed. I recall when the southern section of the M25 was to be built, someone managed to ensure an old right-of-way intersected by the motorway received a footbridge as part of the planning. The calculation by the applicants was that it would be a damned sight cheaper just to build it than to jump through the legal hoops neccessary to close a public footpath. I believe the average weekly usage of said path remains in single figures to this day!

 

Great news and a real testament to the team who'e brought it this far. Now to raise the money and get the TWAO to secure the route!

 

As I understand it, the most common reason for an application to be called in for public inquiry is if one of the statutory agencies had objected and the local authority were minded to approve against that advice. As the Environment Agency, Natural England and Historic England all seemed content with the proposals I think a call-in is unlikely. It might have taken two years to issue a decision, but hats off to Joe White (the Exmoor Planner) and his team for their diligence dotting every "i" and crossing every "t" before a decision was made, I say.

 

There is a lot of "chicken counting" going on round here including how much compensation the objectors would get because of things they may have said. To my mind both "sides" are blowins, white settlers, wheneyes, incomerdens or whatever epithet you may choose. Before the W.I.B.N. crowd start hopping up and down I had better say that I favour restoration but it will be a mighty expensive business as the dreaded linear scrapyard cannot be allowed to develop in this sensitive location. The track record (no pun intended) of railway preservation in this respect has not been good.

 

Agreed, but to the L&B's credit, there has never been a linear scrapyard at Woody Bay.

Keith

 

It ought to be pointed out that, from the footage I've seen of the meeting, there was a very clear difference in accent between local backers and local objectors.

 

They get rid of items the minute they no longer have a use for them, and apparently always have done. "Charles Wytock", "Sid", various diesels and all of the preservationists' original carriages have already departed. The L&B, like the Ecclesbourne Valley, has a ruthless attitude towards rolling stock. Essential if you have ambitious plans and need to stay at your fighting weight.

 

Its one thing to move rolling stock on when there is no use for it. The problem for Woody Bay is the lack of storage for such stock. The long term aim has always been to rebuild the railway to as close as possible to what it was, but with the understanding of today commercial and tourist market.

There is a discussion going on as to what the railway may look like in say 50 years time and at present no one can say for certain what North Devon will be like then either.

The L&BR has a certain image to live up to and I guess that anything else which happens will be a case of private funding and support. I can see there will be visiting locos and may be, a few new resident locos as well. That are not so much of the L&BR image, but have some link to the railway in some way, it might just happen that one day an item or two from the National collection may become a resident of the railway at some point, we can't rule anything out.

My view is that we can only have rolling stock which can do a job for the rebuilding of the line, once we have a covered area suitable for a museum then that is another discussion to have, who knows what the face of railway heritage will be in a few years time.

 

I'm not sure the L&B was ever in the "preservationist" mould - more "reconstructionists"!

CHARLES WYTOCK and SID were never owned by the L&BR, the smaller diesels were only intended as a useful stop-gap, and the long-term plan was always to replace the Thorpe Park coaching stock as soon as sufficient Heritage Carriages were available. Due to the considerable size difference, it was impractical to operate the two rakes together. A fifth Heritage Carriage is currently being rebuilt.

 

Yesterdays audio recording now online.
Should be an interesting listen:

https://soundcloud.com/xmoorationalark/dm550153wma

 

I saw the BBC Spotlight (Devon) news at 10.30 pm. It was laughable to hear the objectors comments. It seems to me that the principal difference between the those who administer the National Park and the objectors to the re-instatement of the L&B is that the administrators understand what a National Park is and is supposed to be; rather than an idyllic timewarp solely for the enjoyment of just a few folk most of whom do not have deep roots in the area.
Hopefully the L&B can now continue, with more certainty, its objectives. It has been said here many times, but it is worth reminding enthusiasts, that support, both physical and financial is essential for the a great L&B future.

 

I would agree that scrapyard sidings or whatever other term one can use is certainly something you can't have in an area such as this, but as pointed by others here the railway's track record as yet has been they do not full into that bad habit, and instead promptly send items away they do not need. It would seem to me their the sort that only keep the necessities and that's it, especially since as with so many other railways, undercover storage space is at a premium amount. Hopefully in due course with the planned construction of their new loco and carriage sheds, they'll solve this problem.

As for the expense of the project, that can be said for a lot of other projects out there, and to my mind is probably not that far different to the amount that had to be spent in part on the reconstruction of the WHR, so there is precedent for such large sums of money being found for a project such as this one.

Really I would have thought the L&B is right up your alley Paul, as you have said before your favourite lines are ones that stay true to their character, such as the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. Yes I realise strictly speaking a lot of the rolling stock and locomotive are not and will not be original but replicas, but nonetheless the railway has always and will no doubt always strive to stay true to the railway's character, which surely is something you can give them nothing but commendations for.

 

if the WHR rebuild is anything to go by (reliable old Wikipedia - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Highland_Railway_restoration) that sounds like an awfully expensive 4 miles compared with 25 miles for (only) £30m! All the best though, as this will probably be the last major-length Heritage Railway re-build

 

Two things. Firstly, there were all sorts of "boyo" politics (sorry Welsh readers) flying around the W.H.R. of the "Party X does not favour it so it will be supported by Party Y" kind. Most unwise to draw any conclusions from the W.H.R.
If the L.&B. stays utterly faithful to how it was.it will go bust. I usually cite Havenstreet as a location where the Southern Railway created a passing place which could be operated by a staff of one. Nowadays the gift shop alone is run by two! However, there is a median between utter authenticity and the creeping mainlinisation that IMHO has affected rather too many places because they want it to rather than they have to.

It might be necessary to establish heavy workshop facilities away from the railway in order to minimise the effect on the surroundings. Further expense of course.

PH

 

To be honest I was only highlighting the point of the railway striving to be authentic to it's character as I thought it would appeal to you, but clearly that doesn't cut it, sorry for trying to point out a positive for you...

Yes further expense possibly, but not something I suspect they haven't considered themselves through all this time of planning, and it would be unfair of you to assume they have or haven't otherwise. No one gets anywhere by jumping to conclusions.

Now here's an idea Paul, could you perhaps say something positive about this project, anything at all? I know you view yourself as a realist that rolls his eyes at so many that support these W.I.B.N. projects, as I understand you feel it distracts from the real issues that need to be addressed in the movement. But I swear I can't even remember the last time you've said anything that's remotely positive or supportive towards something in the heritage movement. Quite frankly at this point many are probably thinking you just love to grumble at everything! I'd like to believe that's not necessarily the case though.

So can you prove them wrong?

 

Other than things on the IoWSR of course...

 

For what it is worth I would draw more of a similarity with Vale of Rheidol style of operation and long term development for the L&BR. It has a railway, it is building up a successful workshop business and on top of this they hope to create a world class museum that I hope one day shall display a selection of one persons collection of locomotives and rolling stock, it may not be everyone cup of tea, but if we can do something like that in Devon, then I will be more than happy.

 

Two things some enthusiasts need to grasp. Firstly the ongoing cost of everything. Secondly that not everyone shares our interest (?obsession) with railways or even likes them.

PH

 

It's not a clone of anywhere else that is certain. As a matter of fact there is quite a strong link on a personal level with the L&B.

PH