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 tourist info the council puts out! And, as you say again, our idea is to celebrate the 2029 centenary of closure by running something - even if only our collapsible PW wagon - on each bit of track we have. Nothing to stop the L&B from doing that kind of thing too on owned sections (although planning permission is obviously a problem, the local authority MAY accept effectively unusable short lengths of track as a historic remembrance of the line)
James

 

There are some good ideas here; maybe you should all join the L&BR Trust before the AGM to make them happen

Seriously, for a moment, haven't I been banging on about a hub and a museum at Blackmoor? It doesn't need to be a running/working railway, but it would allow for the collection, assembly and display of the equipment required to build the railway when the time comes.

 

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 has been attempted, and thwarted. They won't let you go south, and you can't go north. Right now, the opposition claim that it is a small number of middle-aged trainspotters playing about and who will never actually restore the railway is appearing all too true.
Projects succeed by making progress. Maybe slow progress sometimes, but consistent, persistent progress makes a thing seem unstoppable, which is how things appeared in 2013. Those days are long past.
A new 'front' in the south, gradually extending northward to eventually connect up at Killington Lane is, I believe, the only way of ever delivering the stated intent to restore a decent stretch of the L&B. Go where there is less opposition, work hard and make progress.
The trust keep on re-enforcing the position at Woody Bay, -canteen, carriage shed- but that money is not spent moving forward.
The reckless purchase of the pub has not, it seems, brought rails any closer to Blackmoor-quite the opposite, as the Trust now seems to be in a precarious financial position without the resources to carry out any sort of campaign to breakout from the current confined site. The spectre of 'costs awarded' makes any legal challenge of the status quo a terrifying prospect.
I'm not saying 'give up', I'm saying give up on this front for now. Go and make a decent showing somewhere else. Take the best toys there. Make some progress. Regain trust and support, and maybe, just maybe, there will be another chance at waking up the L&B.

 

Would the prospect of the L&B moving elsewhere on the line get any response from the local authority or National Park?

 

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 for it (even if it means mothballing Woody Bay once it is open).
However, that will take a lot of time and money, so I'm all for trying to get to Parracombe and also doing something at Blackmore (even if it's not initially authentic L&B rolling stock).

 

Would I be a cynic to suggest that the NDC would say 'welcome!', the ENPA would shrug their shoulders, and there would be the ringing of bells in celebration in Churchtown?

 

Just to clarify, "The Trust" you are referring to is the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Trust (L&BRT), whereas there is now also the Barnstaple & Yeo Valley Railway Trust (B&YVRT) which is currently evolving from the merging of EA and YVT. The B&YVRT - like the L&BRT - is in the business of restoring as much as possible of the former 19-mile route, but concentrating on the section South of Wistlandpound, whereas the L&BRT is focussed on the Northern half, an arrangement (with some historical exceptions) that was made between the two groups several years ago. Whilst many of the individuals involved are associated with both charities, they are entirely separate organisations, working towards a common goal.

 

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 to at a later stage. A general-theme of "locomotives from narrow gauge railways from around the world" will be expensive and increasing difficult to stock, and will be of limited interest. Spend the money on a railway and recreate it's USP.

 

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 of the South West

I do not see the need to expand into 'NG railways in general' - there were enough less-than-standard gauge railways in the South West that deserve to be covered IMHO.

There are some of us who remember the days when the Trust did have a mini-Museum in the old ex-L&SWR signal-box at Barnstaple Town (which still stands) and there are often comments from members about the ongoing lack of a suitable replacement, whether back in Barum or at WB or BR as necessary. I've found from experience at other heritage railway sites that mnay visitors come with little or no background knowledge about their railway that they are visiting and welcome anything that helps to 'fill in the gaps'. One reason why I spend time scribbling a few words on the web on a wet weekend

 

Over time, the L&BR Trust (& the Association as it was) has tried various locations, and we did come close to reopening the line from hole ground (Pilton Yard); however, there were planning issues even back then.

In all this time, the one thing the whole project has never had is the financial backing of someone very wealthy, and we did reject one person who wanted to remove the membership from the ownership of this railway. Call it "biting the hand that feeds you"; it might sum up the situation rather well.

But at the end of the day, what happens to the railway will always be down to the membership. Now I don't mean this to sound bad, but an assessment by the HRA has said that we have too many people involved who only want to discuss what colour to paint its locos and lack the skills to push this project forward in a constructive business-like manner.

We are not short of keen volunteers to come and do the work. But it needs to be organised in such a way that they feel welcomed when they make the effort. The other point to be raised here is that running a Charitable Trust has changed a lot since I was last involved with one.

Trustees are now held to a much higher standard than it was back in the day. One of the current problems is that the L&BR is seen as becoming stagnant, and with no or little progress having been made, it is very hard to get enthusiastic about the whole thing.

While it may not be the thing members want to hear, I do honestly believe that the L&B Trust needs to concentrate on fundraising to buy more trackbed. If the L&BRT and the Barnstaple and Yeo Valley Trust can come together and work towards acquiring all the trackbed between Bratton Fleming and the Howell Castle site (south of Parracombe), we would have about six miles or so of railway to rebuild (including Blackmoor).

I don't say that it would be easy, but it works out to be around 1/3 of the old railway that could be made to operate again within a reasonable time frame.

As a standalone project with its own management team taken from both of the groups above, it could be the way forward. As for Blackmoor itself, I don't think you can just look at it as a single entity, but it needs to be part of the larger vision.