Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

Agree completely. This is a whinge about what the current trustees haven't done, not a statement of intent from their would be successors about how they would do things differently and, importantly, why that would lead to a different outcome.

 

I want to support an alternative. I want to see an alternative.

I know the history inside out - I’m a railway enthusiast, we’re some of the most obsessive people in Britain. I can judge a situation without being patronised as a newer member who won’t know what happened…

What is the alternative? Leave the appeals to 15 years ago out of it please and tell me about the next 15 years.

 

I do mean that to be constructive by the way, I really do. We all want the same thing.

 

It's not appealing for anyone's "vote", but just a Cri de Coeur from a very longstanding member. For someone going right back to 1979, I can well understand the sheer frustration, and realization that you will in all probability, not live to see your dream come to fruition. Something I myself am beginning to reconcile to. A little empathy for an old hand, please. For some, it's been a very, very long road indeed.

 

Speaking for myself, I do have empathy for that cri de coeur. I am also frustrated by the aspect of "something must be done", which tells me how dreadful things are but doesn't actually propose a useful way forward.

We know that there is a problem, and that the failure of the ENPA planning application is a severe blow. We know that there are many who lack confidence in the current leadership, their vision and their tactics. The question is how we get from there to where we want to be. And there, focusing on what was achieved in a 10 year spell from almost nowhere is frankly unhelpful. We know that a lot was achieved in short order back in the day, but we also know that the obstacles weren't as high, and that the requirements to jump through hoops not as onerous.

I'm frustrated at the consultation paper. It feels like an attempt to justify keeping going as before, but without giving any sense of why that approach is necessary or desirable - or likely to succeed. I want to see a viable alternative presented, which I can support and buy into. Otherwise, I'm left with Hobson's choice, and no viable option to look at.

 

Exactly. I’m completely empathetic to where that post came from. But at the moment I’m rather more concerned as an armchair member hundreds of miles away with where we’re *going*

 

Well to be honest I doubt if you would get anyone to come on here with a decent plan and get it torn to pieces.

 

I’m a member. I don’t expect to see it on here (for the same reasons as you) -but sooner or later the members are going to have to see a plan…

 

I didn't necessarily say here. But I'm a member, with a vote, have been willing to stick my head above the parapet, and have indicated a desire (and potential ability) to attend the AGM. If such a plan exists, I can be contacted through here. But as @gwralatea comments, if nothing's said or shared, nothing can be supported.

 

Exactly Mark, this is someone who has been through the long haul of this railway, has supported and donated in not a small way either, is describing how it grew from nothing to what it is now, sadly what he doesn't mention are his colleagues of which there are many who aren't with us anymore

 

thats what we thought 15 years ago

 

I think we are all familiar with Preservation Projects that live in a sort of suspended animation never going anywhere.

While the L&B isnt in that category yet, with the expiry of the expensively obtained planning consents I suggest that it may be goint that way.

I dont necessarily have to be able to say what needs to be done to say that something needs to be done.

 

If I can sum it up then, what we all want is to see something positive that we can all vote for. But at the same time it feels like we are still dealing with the secondhand car salesman.

I do know of one project that is to come up after the AGM but it will depend on the level of support it will get if it is to be success or not.

 

Sorry, but gibes like “second hand car salesman” don’t help convey an image of a forward looking view.


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Exactly - whilst this forum is useful for exchanging ideas - I don't think it is somewhere to formulate policy. As a member I expect to hear proposals through official channels. There are posts on here which keep suggesting that there are things are 'going on' behind the scenes by those who oppose the current trustees. I am not sure if this 'I know something you don't know' attitude is particually helpful.

 

The wonderful thing about membership organisations is that no matter how much it might feel like Trustees have tied things down or have control, if enough members rally behind a sound enough idea, Trustees can't do much about it.

I have a huge amount of sympathy for those at the L&B who after years and years of hard work feel like they're being taken for a ride by a (in comparative terms) new-ish management team who are seemingly throwing away decades of hard work. I joined the original L&B association when I was about 12 after falling in love with the L&B through a chance encounter with the owners of Fairview and their garden railway, long before there was a railway (I think Woody Bay must have been owned by then but there was certainly no railway there). That 'us against the word' energy for resurrection feels long gone, replaced by an irrecoverable tumbling into a very public bun fight which if not corrected can be terminal for some charitable organisations.

I really implore those frustrated at the current Trustees and management team to galvanize behind something with optimism, tell us what you would do instead, unite the membership and take the railway's future forward in your own hands

 

This is it - tell us why and how it is going to be better than what we've got. We can all diagnose the problems with what we've got, frankly I'm sick of being told them (however much I agree).

In the navy we had a term 'pickle jar officers' - for those who could tell you how many pickles were in the jar but couldn't get the lid off.

I can see lots of very detailed descriptions of the inside of the jar, or how much better the inside of the jar was 20 years ago, but for the love of God let's talk about how the lid comes off! I haven't got a clue, fwiw, but sooner or later someone's going to have to have one.

 

There seem to be lots of people who 'think the Railway should be run the way it used to be' or that 'the people running the railway shouldn't be' [apologies for borrowing the joke about newspapers]. Neither of which are particularly helpful.

 

I will offer a view about how to move forward if only to stir a more positive discussion.

1. Embrace the past. Open discussion about what has gone well and what has gone poorly within the boards. Publish a review document for consultation with members and hold several discussion forums (zoom and in person) to air views. Let everyone reconnect with each other and the overarching vision.

2. Engage with the future. Examine and cost all options for the next development phase. Again discuss with members. Establish strong dialogue and alignment of vision with all organisations in the L and B family. Incorporate learning from 1.

3. Prepare for the future. Pull on steps 1 and 2. Develop thorough plan with the other organisations for the chosen strategy. With the following content:
A. Why this plan
B. Cost estimates and timescales (high level) from planning and TWAO to “first sod” and beyond.
C. Stakeholder engagement plan (external communications; internal communications; objectives and means) focus on how it will be different from before.
D. Fundraising plan. A comprehensive map of how money will be raised to cover the various phases of the plan.
E. Indicative construction costs and timing and phasing
F. Management of the project. Who will do what I’m the above.

 

You have hit the nail on the head in that the perceived view is to run it as it was. The truth of the matter is it won't make any money and it cannot survive on the services from the 1930's.

The Ffestiniog has proven that for everyone to see, yet I don't hear anyone complaining about them. The L&BR needs to be run as a modern corporate operation as well if it is to survive.

Also some how we have appeared to have lost the one thing that brings everyone together and that is a commitment to rebuilding as much of the railway as is possible. I can't say if any one bit is going to be easier to do over say another section, but the options presented do not in my opinion push the project forward enough.

It has been made clear that nothing is going to happen at Blackmoor for at least two years and since there does not appear to be any money in the pot we need to focus on raising enough money to rebuild the whole railway, in much of the same why the WHR has been.

As far as I know and as no one has told me other wise. I would suggest that a fresh survey of the whole line needs to be carried out, this would then give a current picture of what is and what is not possible.

Such a survey will also tell you what bridges need to be rebuilt or replaced and this will focus the minds of everyone as to how much this will cost, from this, a fresh strategy can be formulated and a picture will emerge as to where all the easy targets are.

Once a set of figures on just how much it is estimated to cost, the fundraising team can get together and start work on producing the details funder will want to know.