Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

What was almost certainly the first SR Standard list (of colours) for painting stations was issued on 21 January 1925, which suggests Bratton Fleming Station would have been repainted before they were decided upon.

 

Good to see that the L & B website entry has been altered to read "All sites remain closed to visitors, passengers and casual volunteers until further notice."........and let us hope that all our heritage lines will be able to open in time for the Spring/Summer season.

 

not sure whether any analysis has been done but a brownish paint was found when rubbing down the insides of the windows apparently

 

An article in the L & B T Magazine No 101 of Summer 2013 pp 22-24 describes such an analysis of paint samples from Chelfham Station building, but does not cover the signal box.

 

The Bluebell Railway and the NYMR (I understand) paint their stations in a range of historical ownership liveries. It seems to me that it would be nice to paint L&BR stations in other colours than SR green too, in honour and recognition of the original L&BR. Do I gather from writings here that it is unclear what colours were used by the original L&BR for their stations? I understand that there has been some forensic detective work performed at Chelfham station. Has this unearthed any clarity? Were their stations painted in similar colours to the L&BR coaches perhaps?
On a parallel matter, don't the L&BR coaches look delightful when paired with the SR-liveried Lyn?

 

Exmoor Associates have just posted on Facebook that they have been offered another piece of trackbed to purchase, between Bratton Fleming and Wistlandpound.

Details here - Exmoor Associates – Posts | Facebook

 

How long is the stretch of trackbed?

 

It's only an opportunity to buy at this stage, so they don't want to give away too many details, in case that causes them to lose it. Conveyancing is very slow indeed at the moment.
There also needs to be a fund raising, as the purchase of Bratton Fleming exhausted their war chest.
If you can help, please do. Any excess raised will go towards the next war chest of course.

 

Indeed, I was looking to donate but I couldn't read very much on Facebook and wondered if there was anymore information, but I can understand the lack of details.

 

It could be so close to your grasp, and then an angry NIMBY snaps it up....

I have made a further share purchase, I want this to succeed, like BF did. At the moment I'm not spending any money at all, and my bank balance is going up!

 

Of course. I was looking to support the line so this looks like the best way of doing it.

 

Can I tempt anyone?



(Sorry about the focus, it was grey and windy at the time.)

Want to see NG track laid along here? Help make it happen

 

C'mon, EA, set up an online donation fund like was done for BF Station (brilliantly, too I may add!!). Not everyone can opt for shares and nowadays many of us want to 'click and go' and not have to go through banks, cheques, etc

 

I'll send you a pm.

 

It seems unlikely that EA will be taking up the opportunity to set up a one-click donation route (that was successfully used to help buy Bratton station). Instead it looks as if they will be sticking to the clunky and inconvenient 'use BACS to buy £100 shares' route. A mistake in my opinion; a bit of creative thinking is needed to devise a means of donating easily that avoids the disadvantages that EA reckon derive from non-share-related donations.

 

If this is the case then they've lost my donation. I donated to the BF fund because it was quick and easy, if EA are going to go backwards in time and make things harder then sadly I have to say that my money will go elsewhere.

 

As I understand it there are reasons why they are not going down the Just Giving route. I prefer to make a BACS transfer for my donations - the organisation receives all of my donation without the fees of the donation website.

 

The reasons are unconvincing. We raised £25500 for Bratton station via a one-click donation site and, although they took a small percentage of that, I'm convinced more than half of the rest would not have been donated via BACS, and many donors would not have been able to get to £100 even via several steps. BACS is not simple for a first time donation to someone: my bank requires me to get a texted code to log on, fill in the recipient's details by hand, it then requires my card to be placed in a card reader, followed by a series of steps with more codes, and finally after inserting the final code it agrees to transfer money. All this for a, say, £25 donation as opposed to a one-click donation site - I don't think so!
The main objection, however, is that for EA donations would be taxable if they are not share subscriptions as EA is a limited company not a charity. It's perhaps surprising that this had not been thought of already over the many years EA has been in operation. There are ways around this of course; establishing a charitable arm, or using charitable funds already established by sister organizations are two that spring to mind.

I do support EA and wish to see the new fund drive succeed. But I reckon one of the downsides of the closed management structure is a tendency not to take advantage of new approaches and to over-rely on the tried and trusted way of doing things.

 

Likewise, I donated to Bratton Fleming with a couple of clicks, but am unlikely to set up a BACS transfer or buy shares.

 

I am not an accountant, but understand the issues of donations (via just Giving) and purchase of shares when referring this to a limited company. How about having a Just Giving site, where people could give money on the understanding that the monies were to be used to buy shares in Exmoor Associates in the name of the L&B Trust? Just a thought and I don't know if this is doable or not.