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Mark Thompson's Recent Activity

  1. Mark Thompson liked Miff's post in the thread Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development.

    I'm delighted to see Exmoor Associates and YVT (soon to amalgamate as the Barnstaple & Yeo Valley Railway Trust – B&YVRT) have been thinking along similar lines. I suppose I should join! The following quotes are extracted from Trackbed Trails...

    Feb 5, 2026 at 6:35 PM

  2. Mark Thompson liked RailWest's post in the thread Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development.

    With respect, IMHO there is some muddled thinking here. 1. Let us not forget that the 2018 application to go to PE was approved by ENPA. It failed primarily - if not solely - bacause the Trust could not comply with the Grampian conditions. 2....

    Feb 5, 2026 at 3:32 PM

  3. Mark Thompson liked 35B's post in the thread Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development.

    I think the idea that the objectors are only opposed to a terminus is questionable - at least some of the objectors are opposed to the railway in any form. One such (at least) is a landowner who would have to be persuaded or compelled to sell to...

    Feb 5, 2026 at 3:30 PM

  4. Mark Thompson liked RailWest's post in the thread Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development.

    I would agree with your 2nd and 3rd sentences. However, I would not dismiss the idea of a Museum altogether if it were about any of the following (in a sort of rough order) :- the L&BR the railways of North Devon around Barnstaple the railways...

    Feb 4, 2026 at 6:22 PM

  5. Mark Thompson liked 60044's post in the thread Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development.

    My twopennorth-worth is that thoughts/suggestions of establishing a museum are not helpful, there needs to be a real focus on extending the railway, whether it is in the form of an extension or, less favourably, a second line that can be linked...

    Feb 4, 2026 at 6:20 PM

  6. Mark Thompson liked brmp201's post in the thread Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development.

    I am an L&B Trust member, but my personal opinion is that we need a base on the outskirts of Barnstaple (with good road connectivity, car parking and storage space) before trying to build a railway in the south. If we can get that, then I'm all...

    Feb 4, 2026 at 10:01 AM

  7. Mark Thompson liked James Hewett's post in the thread Southwold Railway.

    Thanks Mark. Yep, we made that point.... but they insist on their right for two motorised wheelchairs to pass, not to speak of their large numbers of incompatible dogs to be kept apart.... Their attitude is "how dare you even think about...

    Feb 4, 2026 at 4:06 AM

  8. Mark Thompson liked ross's post in the thread Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development.

    Maybe Parracombe is akin to Passchendaele. Possibly the Woody Bay section is like Market Garden- great idea if it had worked, but the SS Panzers... Woody Bay- Killington Lane is boxed in, apparently checkmated by slick planning lawyers. Breakout...

    Feb 4, 2026 at 4:04 AM

  9. Mark Thompson liked James Hewett's post in the thread Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development.

    Thanks - exactly our long-term plan in the Blyth Valley. Many question the point in putting down track where it cannot be used for some years - but the rails at Halesworth now not only look as if they were never taken up, but feature in the...

    Feb 4, 2026 at 4:02 AM

  10. Mark Thompson replied to the thread Southwold Railway.

    Oh James, I'm so sorry. 3m? That's not a footpath, it's a road. How fat are these people? And between 1929 and now, they never even thought about it. It's mean, petty and parochial pearl-clutching of the first order.

    Feb 3, 2026 at 5:22 PM

  11. Mark Thompson replied to the thread Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development.

    Absolutely, Miff. If you have the assets, flaunt 'em, even if its just high days and holidays! And one thing about the line in the Yeo valley, there's plenty of assets, far too good not to show.

    Feb 3, 2026 at 3:37 PM

  12. Mark Thompson liked Miff's post in the thread Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development.

    There is another possible approach, as adopted by Rother Valley Railway and also on a smaller scale by the 2 Southwold Railway groups. Where land is owned and planning-permission easier to obtain (e.g. outside the National Park) build sections...

    Feb 3, 2026 at 3:36 PM

  13. Mark Thompson liked 35B's post in the thread Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development.

    I think things are more optimistic than that, but I agree this is the hour before dawn. The arguments are beginning to slacken off, and there are changes in leadership that suggest a different path is possible at Woody Bay. Meanwhile, the...

    Feb 3, 2026 at 2:59 PM

  14. Mark Thompson liked RailWest's post in the thread Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development.

    If you see Blackmoor as a destination from WB, the IMHO that will only be achieved once the Trust finds solutions to 2 key problems - (1) the sections of trackbed between PE and BR not yet in Trust ownership and (2) the rebuilding of Parracombe...

    Feb 3, 2026 at 2:54 PM

  15. Mark Thompson replied to the thread Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development.

    Not so long ago, support and resource was there in abundance. However, since then the debacle of having the existing planning applications lapsing, the expensive "red line" fiasco, subsequent failed planning applications, plus the huge sums of...

    Feb 3, 2026 at 12:15 PM
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