Lynton & Barnstaple Railway 10th Anniversary: Looking To The Past & Future

There is a substantial amount of space in the new design marked as 'bar/restaurant' so maybe it's some kind of mutually beneficial agreement?

Keith

 

Sorry didn't see it. There will always be one!

 

Does the extension require any of the land currently owned by The Grobs? I had heard (uncorroborated) that the owners of the bungalow that requires demolition were prepared to sell to the railway, as and when the time comes.

 

There are 3 properties in a row at Parracombe where land needs to be bought.
Starting from the Woody Bay end, the first property is Fairview which has been up for sale for a while at an "optimistic" price. Therefore, by definition, the owners are willing to sell! The woodland walk mentioned in the description is in fact the railway trackbed- see advert:http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-31594152.html?premiumA=true
Fairview owns the trackbed as far as the bridge by the Halt. The other side of the bridge is the halt itself and that's where the 1980s bungalow is. It is rented out and I have heard that the owner would be prepared to sell.
The next long stretch of trackbed, as far as Parracombe Bank, is owned by the Grobs. It isn't too far away from their house so it's easy to understand their reservations about the railway reinstatement. For some strange reason, not all of us are narrow gauge enthusiasts!
As for Blackmoor Gate Station, I believe the owner of the pub/restaurant has been passively looking for a buyer for a while, so everything is possible on that site.
I hope that clarifies things.

 

Many thanks for that Buzzard, very informative! I was aware about some of the above, however I hadn't noticed Fairview on the market. The asking price does appear to be somewhat optomistic, especially when compared to the purchase of the farm at Rowley Moor.

I understand that the owners of the Old Station Inn at Blackmoor Gate are not as young as they once used to be. I always thought that this would make an excellent strategic purchase by the railway just for its catering facilities. The ability to convert it to include additional station, office and museum facilities makes even greater sense and I much prefer this option keeping the number of aditional buildings required to a minimum! Yes the works required will in someways affect the original fabric of the station. However, this has already seen about as much change as the original L&B Coach 1 on the Ffestiniog, with the expansion plans if anything appearing to be a more sympathetic addition in comparison to the existing additions that have already been made. As mentioned previously, I like the fact that facade on the platform side of the building appears to be returned to something much closer to the original building than the current conservatory'esq extension.

Likewise I can fully understand the reluctance of the Grob's and the detrimental impact (as far as they're concerned) to their property and grounds. I truely hope a mutual agreement can be reached as its always useful to have your neighbours on side in these matters, although I appreciate its not always possible.

The bungalow and Blackmoor Gate Station will obviously be key targets for purchase by the railway. Perhaps Fairview is/should be as well, however thats all wishfull thinking unless the financial resources can be made available. Certainly the dream is very possible, but a lot of hard work and some very interesting times ahead!

Paul

 

Grob's reaction now understood.
1. They're not particularly wedded to staying where they are; proof attempt to sell 10 years ago. So this is not about how their dream home is going to be changed by the railway.
2. They realize some of their land may be needed by the L&B as part of the expansion plan.
3. Ergo: by making a fuss they think they can get an over-market price.....

 

There's always a way of turning the situation into an advantage by renting the property to NG fans, publicity will certainly be no problem ! The reverse to" one man's meat is another man's poison".....

 

These properties should drop in value after the intro of the 'Mansion Tax' LOL..

 

In anycase, besides property aquireing, there are other matters on this plan that can merit much discussion, such as restoring the long disused infrastructure, assembling staff for it's running and overall costs.

Many of these factors have no doubt been thought through by the Railway I'm sure, but interesting to discuss and speculate at any rate.

 

The West Country grapevine - and a comment in one of the recent paper articles - suggests the owner of the bungalow is reasonably anti-railway and will only sell at a sum very significantly over the market value. Messrs Bowman, Rampton et al. identified Parracombe as one of the major blocks on reopening the whole L&B 45ish years ago due to the amount of local opposition in the village, so it will be interesting to see how well the L&B team get on with negotiating land purchase from the diehard objectors before going for the 'nuclear' compulsory purchase option.

The job figures in the consultation documents interested me. Assuming that volunteers would cover the majority of train crew turns, what on earth are 24 full time staff and 8 apprentices going to do?

 

Considering the amount of opposition the WHR faced in it's rebirth, I'm curious to see how the L&B will fare with these issues too. The opposition in Parracombe could very well have lessened over 45 years, though we'll see soon enough won't we?

Well I suppose maintaining infrastructure, locomotives and rolling stock could play a big part in that job prediction, amongst other things. You'd be surprised just how many jobs are required to operate some attractions.

 

"Anti-railway" .....more like financial tactic.

 

There was some discussion a month or two back on one of the L&B threads that was mainly against the idea of the railway getting compulsory purchase powers as it would alienate neighbouring landowners. As this recent discussion confirms, there are likely to be a very few people who hold vital parts of the trackbed who are either totally against the expansion or are out to get ridiculously inflated prices for their strips of land. It s clearly important, therefore, that the railway does get those CP powers - imagine the agony if the trackbed for the expansion was all in the L&B's hands apart from two short but vital pieces in Parracombe...

 

As I understand it, having obtained CP powers, the land and property values are set by an independant tribunal; the owners having no input. If they wait until powers are granted, they risk receiving less for their asset than they had already been offered and it is likely the majority will settle 'at the eleventh hour'.

However, if the Railway are optimistic about getting CP powers, they may withdraw any offer 'on the table' as the tribunal may set a lower value for these assets.

All very interesting..

 

It's most definitely going to be a big challenge for all concerned, that's for sure. Let's all hope the L&B will be able to get all the land needed relatively trouble free.

Another interesting topic on this project to discuss is the rolling stock that's going to operate the service itself.

Motive power appears to be well covered for now, with Axe, Charles Wytock and Isaac on hand, and Lyn soon to join them.

It's the matter of coaches that'll need the most attention I reckon, since though they will soon have four heritage carriages available, ideally their going to require more for a two train service. The most obvious and quickest option would seem to be getting two more heritage carriages rebuilt, thereby allowing the railway to have two rakes of three coaches to their disposal. Eventually, as the railway has stated it's intention to do so, new more modern carriages will have to be considered.

 

I'd worked out possible two rake coach sets based on rebuilding all the heritage coaches for which parts remain. Of course, this is on a different computer, but I will post my thoughts later (for what they're worth!!).

Of more interest will be the coach designs for an eventual third and fourth rake in Southern livery (all the rebuilds are currently destined to be in L&B livery). My view is that they should be somewhat modernised versions of the originals (as if the Southern had kept the line open, perhaps), rather than totally modern coaches. Of use for an eventual 18+ miles railway would be loos, and carriage connectors to allow a food & drink trolley to be used.

 

and wifi..

 

"modern carriages will have to be considered" ......within reason of course !

 

The ultra modern carriages won't be at Woody Bay just yet. However, if you visit the L&BR Gala this coming weekend you will be able to ride in one (or all) of the FOUR Heritage Coaches which are already there.

Please see http://www.lynton-rail.co.uk/ for details

Mike Pearce