Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

If completion has been set for April 17th, then contracts will have already been exchanged, sometime before 17th of this month.

 

Shareholders have already received detailed news including that contracts were indeed exchanged.

 

So...rock solid facts then?

 

The constant search for bad news in this thread reminds me of the comment about APT-P's development - if the coffee in the buffet car was cold it was front page news on a tabloid.

 

I totally agree with this, I haven't worked in a bar for years, but I do know all of this goes on, the guy who owned the pub where I used to work set targets for the staff to meet each week, it was bad if you were working say Monday to Thursday evenings, if you had a good crown in on Thursday you could just about manage to reach the lower limit, but Friday and Saturday evenings where the best, but very busy Fridays could be manic if we had a live band and music playing till 1 in the morning many people would simply over order and forgot about that order on the bar and then about 20 minutes or so later come back and ordered again we loved people like that. The problem came when you have two people saying that it was their drink and they already had 2 or 3 pints, luckily we had bouncers that took care of them for us.

While it was fun, sadly I had to change jobs for better money so I gave up the pub job, I later found out that the local blue rinse brigade complained about all the young folk making to much noise and got it shut down. The pub was finally demolished and replaces with some very expensive flats, happy days.

The moral of the story is that if Blackmoor is to become a success you need to attract people to it and not just based on one day having a steam railway running from it, the PLC need to understand the market Blackmoor has and how to improve on that model first.

 

Do they? They've literally appointed a manager from the local hospitality trade, who knows the area intimately, to run the place for them.

If I was them I'd let him get on with it.

 

It was said to the person who told me and I have no reason to think this person is a liar

 

That is what I’m saying, don’t go charging in like a bull in a china shop and have change for the sake of change, have a look at what your market is first and foremost, then if you must maybe tweak things slightly and incrementally.
It’s never a good idea to annoy your regulars.

 

Funny you should say that Tom… I also like to take photos of Keg couplings as well…

 

Some NEWS !

Thanks to the kindness of a fellow member, my Inbox was graced this morning by a copy of a 'News Bulletin' which apparently the L&BRT is in the process of sending out to members. Apart from a confirmation of the purchase of the OSHI (essentially as already made public), the bulk of it relates to a 'Consultation with members on Options to progress extension of Lynton & Barnstaple Railway.....'.

In essence, this document lists four different Options and invites members to vote on which they support. Such votes to be sent in by 14th April. NOTE: you can only vote for one Option - there is no scope to put them in any order of preference.

Of the 4 options, two effectively are non-starters for the near/medium-term future for reasons set out in the Bulletin. The third is really an 'option of last resort'. These leaves the fourth option. which clearly is the Board's preferred approach.

IMHO it is probably the option most likely to attract support from those members who want to see real progress on the ground as soon as possible. Quite a bit of the background work done so far could be re-useable, but even so IMHO the timescales still seem rather optimistic based on recent experience. Furthermore it will clearly cost a lot of money, but sadly there is no indication of (a) how much of the necessary funding the Board already has to hand nor (b) how they expect to fund-raise the balance.

The option contains a number of elements, at least one of which IMHO - even if feasible - would seem unwise to pursue in the current 'climate' until the after-shocks of the recent debacle have died down. There seems to be no facility to vote/for against individual parts of that option, although the vote form does provide a space for comments.

Although it is good to see that clearly the Board has been giving some thought to 'what to do next', I would not want to see a situation arise where the Board comes to the AGM and says (in essence) "the membership have voted for Option X, so that is what we are going to do next" without (a) there having been a proper debate on the situation and (b) there has been a detailed analysis of (i) what went wrong leading up March 7th and (ii) what needs to be done to ensure that similar does not happen again. We can not risk rushing impatiently into the next fiasco....

 

To sort of repeat myself. One thing that has crossed my mind and agree with, is the [ok] piecemeal purchase of whatever former track bed as and when it becomes available if possible. As once they [the L&B] own it they can then set about getting the necessary planning permissions etc to rebuild the line.

 

I have just read this (the email came a few days ago, but I didn't see the attachment!!). The one thing it doesn't address is the blockage at Parracombe. What is the point of inching the railway both north from OSHI and south from WB towards Parracombe (the Directors' preferred option) if that all-important bit of trackbed is never going to be sold to the Railway? As even with a TWAO the likelihood of CP powers being granted is very small, I think this whole stretch needs to be placed on the backburner and either option A (Wistlandpound southwards) or B (Woody Bay northwards) should be given serious consideration. I can't vote for their suggested option without some kind of reassurance that the 'missing link' is confidently expected to be obtainable in the time frame they suggest.

 

Amidst all the doom and gloom, time for some good news. Here is an update from the society showing some of the latest progress:

https://www.lynton-rail.co.uk/news/view/progress-at-woody-bay-station

 

Somebody told someone else, who told you? And you posted that on a public forum?

What would a judge say if you presented that as evidence at a trial?

 

That's literally what the Trust and Exmoor Associates are doing though - that's been the strategy for years.

 

Someone may be wrong without being a liar.

 

Also literally everyone is a liar. It's a traditional outraged response to say "Are you calling me a liar?" to try to force a climb down. The answer is yes, 100%, everybody lies. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes by mistake.

 

I wonder if this "Consultation on Options" will include any meaningful interaction and dialogue with local residents?

 

Only if you are a member I would think