Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

I hope you will be proved right, but...my concern is that the objectors will see this as some sort of victory and be emboldened to try even harder to frustrate any plans for railway expansion anywhere along the route. My fear is that, notwithstanding the progress seen at place such as Chelfham and hopefully Bratton Fleming in the not-too-distant future, a realistic and sustainable expansion of the L&BR as an operational 'railway entity' is going to prove harder than ever.

 

Although meatman seems to believe that electing trustees from 20 odd years ago (would they even want to stand?) is the panacea to all the issues. I'm not sure how those trustees would have got past the planning processes or the Parracombe opposition though - they will be very hard issues to solve, regardless of who is in charge.

 

Let's not forget that the Trust appointed Arup as planning agents. They are hugely experienced and qualified in these matters. It may well be better to let the planning applications expire and then re-submit them when Grampian Conditions cannot be applied.

Perhaps there will be an opportunity to rebuild the line between Wistlandpound and Blackmoor in the near future. However, we know that Snapper, Chelfham and Bratton Fleming are not suitable locations for an (albeit temporary) terminus. Let's wait and see what the promised consultation with the membership brings.

 

If Plan B starts with BF to Chelfham, that distance would give a good run. It's just under 4.5 km (2.8 miles). Various L&B bodies only own just over a quarter of this, however, divided into a dozen parcels. All effort should now go into obtaining these as soon as possible.

 

Sorry, I should have included provision for those who still wanted paper copy. However, no matter how good the bulk postage savings are there is still the cost of paper, ink, envelopes and handling. (If the printer is posting the mail-out then there will be a charge for that as well). Where a club/society is short of cash for its main purposes then this is an area which should be reviewed for potential savings.

 

But....car-parking at Chelfham would present problems and the situation at BF would not be much better. There is no point in having an isolated stretch of railway from BF to CE - however nice it might be for a ride - is potential passengers do not have easy access to it. Maybe there are potential solutions to that issue, who knows?, but it is the sort of stuff that people will have to start thinking about if the L&BR and/or EA are to capitalise on their existing assets.

 

If that plan, or something similar, were adopted would you see all operations including track, workshop, engines & carriages, and buildings, being transferred from the existing site to the new one. And how do you think the current volunteers might feel about that?
Or would you try to run both? L&B East and L&B West perhaps ?

 

As I suggested in my post #6880, there could be a minibus service between sites (- a bit like Rail replacement services on the big railway!) I don't see that the Woody Bay operation is actually affected. It is just that the other sites become more significant and gradually link together.....which is sort of already happening.

 

... with a rail replacement bus service between the two?

 

Such minutiae can be very considerable so need to be considered carefully.
For example, exceeding the 100 gram limit for a "letter" increases the stamp cost from 68p (2nd class up to 100g) to £1.65 ( 2nd class "large letter" up to 250g). Much more than double is not a minutiae!
Also, the balance of costs between various printing methods now commonly available have changed the older presumption that more copies cost less each.

 

Fair points, all - my reference to "minutiae" was about the details of these costs in a thread like this, rather than dismissing the need for any particular organisation to get their head around those.

 

Phil what you say has all the good intentions, however as has been displayed on here and elsewhere Trust with-in the L&BR Groups is at an all time low. It really doesn't matter which side of the fence you sit on this one. The fact of the matter is, it is going to take time to bring everyone back together. Everyone I have emailed or spoken too, have said they all feel let down by what has happen.

Knowing the history of the L&BR group as I do, I guest it was only a matter of time before this happen. However the damaged had been done along time before it kicked off on here. So the next step is to rebuild the confidence, not only in the group, but also in the management team.

As I have said elsewhere we have just two options 1) continue to wallow in self pity or 2) learn the lessons from this and move on while at the same time making it harder for this to happen again.

I don't have a magic bullet but what I do know about Voluntary groups is this is not unique situation as far as heritage railway groups are concerned.

If asked to help rebuild this group of course I would say yes, I love this railway with a passion and I don't want it to die.

There will be a lot of work that most people will not be aware of, or for that matter will they be interested in either, but this needs to be done before we can seriously consider rebuilding any other part of the line.

One area that I think needs a visit is a group wide audit of just about everything. Hopefully it will show where both our weaknesses and strengths lay. We should also be prepaid to adopt current charity best practise systems, if we need to change how the group is run then so be it.

 

Personally I don't see anything from Woody Bay moving anywhere unless it is linked with a Woody Bay extension going north to Caffyns and possibly on to Lynton.

 

Those I have spoken too have indicated that they don't want to stand at the elections, but prefer to have a fresh group of people who may have a better understanding of how a group like this should now operate.

The general consensus is that the Trustees have been trying to do too much and by not allowing the professions to advise them properly we have ended up with this.

Now it is time to concern where go from here.

 

Given what is in the public domain, I am curious about whether the issue is that the trustees have paid too little, or too much, attention to professional advice.

I'm also curious as to how aware of that advice people are, and whether their frustration is actually to do with the advice, or just an approach that has been softly, softly.

 

I don't agree with your doom and gloom - for someone who claims to be a supporter of the railway your posts always seem to be negative.

 

Well all I can say is come to the AGM and ask them that question

 

Sorry I don't agree with you, But if being cautious about the future then you can not be aware of the history of this project.

 

IMHO for the 'average member' the answer is probably "not very much, if at all".

When did any Trust member last get to see any Board Minutes ?

 

I might well - I shall be in the right corner of the country earlier in the day, though I'm not sure I fancy the drive home afterwards.

I don't know. But that partly misses the point of my question - judging by the tenor of posts on here, I suspect that no amount of professional advice would convince some of anything other than a full bore approach.