Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

A schoolfriend of mine had a Heinkel bubble car, and rolled it on to it's side when turning sharp right.

He got out, heaved it upright again, and drove on. It cost him an indicator light, that's all

 

A friend of mine had one of those as well, in which we travelled around the railways of the West Country in the late 1960s. Easy to service - just lay out a old blanket on the ground and then lay it on its side !!! You just needed to drain the carburetter first :-(

 

They had a 250 BMW single. I had an R26 like that, shaft drive, but shook a lot. I upgraded to an R69, a 100 mph machine, tested on the M4

 

My experiences were limited to several rides in one owned by a friend but they were never something that I enjoyed. it was a question of accept the lift or not go to whatever it was we were going to. I still have memories of going down the A1 to Doncaster at relatively high speed. With the wheel arrangement it had there was no avoiding any of the potholes that appeared to be everywhere, even on what was supposed to be a major trunk road (1960's).

 

Meanwhile, back at the L&B, there is this:

There has been discussion elsewhere on NP about the misuse of AI, but do you consider this to be acceptable (most of the effects were achieved manually by traditional methods; only the last section was AI)?

 

IMHO the most important thing about the use of AI generated material is that the fact that it is AI-generated is made very clear up front.

A sort of "this what it may have looked like if...." offering is one thing, but simply publishing something without the context is another matter altogether - I've already encountered various examples of (say) colourised photos where it is apparent that some readers have assumed it's historically/factually correct when clearly - if you know the subject - it is not.

To some extent, it is rather like my common gripe about people who find a modern-ish map of a railway station or junction etc, then gather some information about earlier features, and add them on to the plan in an attempt to back-date it to a supposed earlier version. The end result is a pastiche that contains features which never coexisted at any time. They then compound their error by publishing the plan without any caveat or explanation as to how they arrived at the (inaccurate) content.

Confession time....been there, done that, long ago before I knew better :-(

 

Another fine episode of Steam on the Moor, with news of coach 7 and van 23.

 

The new Barnstaple & Yeo Valley Railway Trust website launched on Saturday, along with an appeal to raise £150,000 to relay 730 metres (half a mile) of track at Snapper Halt

 

Was that the big news to come out of the meeting at the weekend? Or were more trackbed aquisitions announced?

 

I would say an appeal for £150,000 and a project to relay half a mile of track at Snapper, plus the launch of the website, and an announcement of the membership scheme was all fairly big news. There was mention of a few very close pending purchases, (at least three, IIRC), and others less advanced, but for obvious reasons, it is never a good idea to announce such things until the deed is done, bought & paid for, signed, sealed, and delivered in triplicate!

 

Wonderful, It will be a good exercise in infrastructure reconstruction and getting volunteers into the track laying swing of things, they will be able to perfect concrete post production too!.

 

Excellent news. Couple of queries, if anyone knows:

The membership scheme’s not yet on the website (or I couldn’t find it), will this be launched at a later date?

Have the two Trusts agreed common p/way spec/design-standards?

 

Miff, thanks!
The membership form is available to download as a pdf at https://byvrt.org.uk/membership/ The online membership is "under development" but should be operational within a couple of weeks. Membership is £30 per annum Incidentally, membership is free to all L&BRT members until 1st May 2027, then £25 per annum. Former EA shareholders are entitled to free life membership, which is otherwise £400.
The B&YVRT technical and design standards are, as I understand it, designed to be 100% compatible with those in use at Woody Bay so that, come the "Golden Spike" ceremony (a few years away yet, I suspect) through-trains will be running across both sections, all the way to "New Lynton".

 

Thanks @Old Kent Biker - both really good to hear. Just a minor point - the membership page is easy to find at the top of the desktop site but is hidden away on the mobile version (for me at least, using ios Chrome) - it's not on the quick links at the bottom of the page so I didn't see it when I looked before.

 

Fair point, and thanks! I tried to keep the menus as simple and flat as possible, and all pages are visible from the Sitemap link at the footer, but I'll see what I can do, once the online forms are working!

 

The FAQ page answers a number of these sort of questions - FAQs - Barnstaple & Yeo Valley Railway Trust

Does anyone know what the situation is with regards to planning permission? I realise it's not Exmoor National Park, but is planning consent required for track reinstatement?