Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

Pilton would be an ideal location for a car park - it already IS one!

 

I agree, since the holegroud project was undertaken, the last time I was there, the old offices have been taken over by a children's day centre, and somehow I can't see a useful community asset such as a children's day centre wanting to vacate that location for a railway. All I am saying is that for now, we will need to rethink this part of the line once we have the rest of it up and running.

Maybe Snapper could become our Llanfair Raven Square equivalent for now, subject to acquiring more land in the area for a car park.

 

In my limited (two weeks a year at some point between June and September) experience of Pilton Yard car park it is very popular and sometimes full. It's a good source of income for someone (Council?) and I can't see that being given up easily.

I am also bemused as to where you could site an appropriately sized car park at Snapper Halt, Bratton Fleming (or Chelfham really). I can only think that Blackmoor Gate or Woody Bay are the only places that could accommodate the likely amount of visitors arriving by car to ride the trains.

 

If by Hole Ground you mean what is now the Barnstaple Social Club, I would regard that as not to be touched, given the significant social needs of the area; the Pilton car park may also be quite challenging. But my thoughts are more that, as with other railways that have had to recreate from next to nothing, that it may be necessary to look for more than an "original" site, and consider today's world rather than just that of the 1930s.

 

That is exactly what I was hinting at, and the topography around Barnstaple does not help either, which has sprawled outwards since 1935. Looking at the OS Map of the area, there is some land south of Snapper that, if available, could become a car park. But getting people from Barnstaple out to Snapper will still be a challenge, and you would be right about looking at this from today's perspective.

It would not be worth the pain to take away established social venues, unless, in the big picture, a replacement building is planned to be built next to or as part of the railway redevelopment.

The other alternative would be to look for a site near or as part of a public park.

 

Hole Ground is not part of what was Pilton Yard, it is land behind the Social Club

 

Without comment on any particular location, “getting people out” hasn’t been a particular problem at Woody Bay, so I don’t see why it has to be a major issue at the Barnstaple end.

The railway would be selling primarily to tourists, not residents of Barnstaple. Tourism in the area is quite diffuse, and relies heavily on people having cars. While there are hotels in the town, there aren’t that many and they aren’t that large. Nor are they all walking distance of the centre - when I stay, I tend to be out at Sticklepath.