Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

An interesting collection of platform tickets, particularly the time restriction. It has to be asked: what's the significance of the different colours of the Chelfam tickets?

 

And also, Snapper being unstaffed, who/ how were they issued, and was that time limit in any way enforceable?

 

Must say, I agree. Wartime events were great to begin with, but have become so hackneyed nowadays. A 30s event would need to be in spirit with the railway, so agricultural/ hiking/ holidays, etc. but plenty of scope, when you think about how different the travelling demographics would be between the summer traffic and the close season.

 

I believe the Bluebell does a Victorian/Edwardian weekend? I guess it gets a bit trickier to hold such events with a straight face if you're a Mk1 only railway with most things in BR livery. It stretches a point for WW2 as it is but it's close enough for those lines, but I'm not sure about '30s. And in any case, the '40s weekends are as successful as they are because there's a large band of people who roam the country who like to mooch about in costume for a weekend. Victorian/Edwardian is sufficiently different tin the public consciousness to be distinct, whereas I'm not sure the '30s is.

 

Bluebell used to do Victorian/Edwardian themed days, but that was long ago. I know what you mean about the 39s and wartime being so close, but no battledress/ ration books/ Andrews Sisters pastiches. Emphasis a little more on hedonism and every day life, which at such a distance in time, and in such contrast to the "state of emergency" we currently live under, it's different- why not?

 

Hopefully somebody will make the trains run on time.

 

You will find that quite a few of the 'higher end' reenactors have a wider interest than just the 40's/military; it frequently goes hand in hand with a more general interest in the early twentieth century, particularly the 30's. Often these people are looking for something different to the bog standard 1940's railway event, in particular they're after a more immersive experience than can be had amongst the ̶c̶r̶a̶p̶ different interpretations found at a lot of 40's events. For instance I know of a group who've been on a 30's cycling trip in France.

And much as it pains me to say this, (and it chuffing well does) but don't underestimate the impact of Peaky Blinders on the public's interest in the inter-war period.

 

All good points, the idea of a Peaky Blinders themed event could be interesting!...

 

Black Country Museum have them, I think there are others. Speaking as a seasoned reenactor, lets just say that it's not the sort of thing that should be mentioned in the same breath as a proper 30's living history event...

 

One of the current L&B directors is a former Civil War re-enactor, so who knows, although that may be going back a little too far...

 

Seem to be a few of them just along the coast ...

Tom

 

I think the Welsh lines have done Victorian/Edwardian weekends.

https://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/art...an+at+Talyllyn&sectionIs=news&searchyear=2016

The problem with any re-enaction is that it tends to focus on the nice bits and forget the crappy bits, so if you did a 20s weekend it would be all flappers and stuff like that and everyone would forget the General Strike, political violence etc etc. I'd just like re-enactments to be a little more honest about how things were.

 

It’s human nature to look back at the past and create a sanitised version based on the good bits. Not sure my family looking to enjoy a nice relaxing weekend wants to experience a re-enactment of the General Strike! Nor for that matter do they want to dwell too heavily on the grimmest aspects of WW2.

A 1920s or 30s event might just work but you would need to think what attractions can you provide, what story do you tell? Perhaps link it with a classic vehicle rally or a vintage fairground? Some people might sniff at WW2 events but when done well they work very well indeed on different levels, especially if the weather is iffy. There’s the basic good versus evil underlying story, big bangs and pyrotechnics, dancing, music, food, classic vehicles etc. Plus for a significant number of people it’s within living memory and therefore nostalgic.

The L&B could provide a good backdrop to an 20s/30s event, I just think it would need careful thought about how to draw in families to make it a commercial success.

 

As a sampler, there are a good few orchestras out there who can recreate the music of the period really well:



While this recreation of a 1933 Spike Hughes arrangement might be a bit too jazzy for some, its still great dance music for an indoor (or outdoor) event, and just that bit different from more familiar 40s fare. There are several outfits which play the more commercial dance band material, too.
While this sort of event must have a definite"feel good" factor to it, I do agree with some, that just a little edge of dissonance, a quiet reminder that the period was not just all gin slings and foxtrots, would add significantly to the flavour of the mix.
PS- my 19 year old granddaughter thinks this type of music is "so cool!"

 

Perhaps it's just that after a day of non-stop music on loudspeakers during a '40s weekend would make anyone have enough of it, but I'd definitely take some of that '20s and '30s stuff! Bertie Wooster on the piano while Jeeves looks on disapprovingly…

 

I was just thinking that myself, but for a true 1930's experience, wheres the ragged little kids, dressed in pullover and shorts, saying giv us a penny for a bun Mr, and the local bobby clearly overweight, chasing them off the platform. was rickets still about then?

 

That's often asserted, but I really don't think it is true any more, as a bit of maths would show.

The war ended in 1945: that means anyone under 75 has been born since the end of the war. Realistically, to have even childhood memories of the very end of the war, you've got to be over 80. To have childhood memories of the early years of the war, you've got to be in your late eighties or older; to have adult memories of any part of the war, you have got to be well into your 90s, or just about 100 to have adult memories of the early part of the war. (My dad will be 91 this year: he is nonetheless too young to have have fought in the war, and was still at school when the war ended. My mum is 85, which made her only three at the beginning of the war and nine at the end).

In practical terms, people in their nineties don't generally make up significant visitor numbers to heritage railways. The people who do visit are much younger, generally too young for the war to be in their own living memory.

More generally, if nostalgia was driven only be people's living memory, Cold War re-enactment events would be popular and no-one would be visiting mediæval castles or Victorian stately homes ...

Tom

 

During the general strike some railway services were maintained using volunteer labour by non-railwaymen. Can you imagine such a thing?

 

I take your point there, and besides, nostalgia isn't what it used to be...

My mother-in-law is 89, and she still vividly recalls the day when, as a teenager, she was on the back of a farm cart riding home after a day in the fields near Canterbury, they were strafed by a lone Bf109! She can still describe the markings, and even the pilot's crooked teeth! Many are still alive with memories (not always pleasant) of the '39-45 war.

I well remember the Cuba Missile crisis (my father was a Thor IRBM navigator for the RAF at the time) so maybe a Cold War nostalgia event would appeal to me!

I think most of our modern-day nostalgia is derived from films we've seen, many of which are themselves nostalgic, romanticised, or just plain fiction (Chelfham Viaduct actually featured in one just after the war - "The Flemish Farm"). Nostalgia events are, however, great potential money-spinners for railways, even if they are actually not very historically accurate, so if a succesful formula can be developed by individual railways, they should continue.

 

and some accidents resulted from untrained people running trains. pg 3-4

https://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/MoT_BishopsStortford1926.pdf

The Mr Garraway mentioned is I assume Ron Garraway so a loose L&B/FR connection to the story.

Too much of anything will send anyone round the bend.

Far be it for me to question your mother in law, but I am curious as to how she got to check out the pilots teeth.

I know someone who works on memory and he interviewed someone who gave a full throated account of his experience, interestingly it matched perfectly onto the opening scenes of a popular film. This isn't to say it didn't happen like that but what we think we saw and what actually happened.

Cold War/1960s event could be interesting, although perhaps a little difficult for many preserved lines as an accurate recreation of the service would be 'run down Beeching decline'. Cuba is obviously 62 so pre-Beeching report, so that could work. The music would be a bit dull though.