Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

Thank you, Patrick. I don't know how I missed that thread, though I note it only lasted a few days. Some good stuff in there, perhaps we should revive it ?
Mike

 

From the L & B website re Chelfham Station .......
"We are pleased to announce that our submitted planning application has been approved by North Devon Council, allowing us to demolish the existing disused timber lodge which is in a poor state of repair. A new single-storey timber lodge will be built in its place, providing the railway with an insulated building offering modern overnight accommodation facilities".

 

Everyones moaning about not taking donations etc .

Remember they are a private limitted company and a donation is classed as a gift and therefore unlike a chairty that could claim gift aid ...a LTD company has to PAY tax on any gift ...your £20 actually works out at £15

I belive the EA have rumours flying around that chairty status is being looked into but it has to be done above board which means even if it turns out they dont ...it takes time .

The JG page didnt cost that much in commission but it nearly hammered EA with a large tax bill which they are slowly working out .

I completely agree , i cant afford to give £100 as a minimum ...ill have to wait like alot of us but give it time ....it will work out , the EA and L&B are very good with thier money and wont just chuck it about for a giggle .

 

You have it in a nutshell. I imagine that they don't have that many costs to off set such 'income'.

 

Does EIS relief not still apply on share purchases of qualifying companies?

 

Perhaps some of us, who maybe can't chuck £100 in to this, should form a syndicate. All bung in our twenties and buy shares. I know it wouldn't benefit from gift aid, but it would avoid the tax, I think. Anyone interested? Message me

 

Just to counter some of the concerns on this thread, I'm completely new to this whole shareholding business but thought I'd chip in towards the new section of trackbed.

E-mailed via the EA website this afternoon about buying some shares through monthly instalments.
Got a reply within a couple of hours with two forms to fill in.
Printed them off, signed, scanned in and e-mailed back.
Set up the Standing Order via my online banking.

Probably took me only 15-20 mins or so total. I agree it's not quite as easy as sticking my credit card number into JustGiving, but not nearly as difficult as some people seem to be making out.

 

I have been paying via standing order a small amount (much less than a 100quid!) to EA each month since last summer. They only issue you a share once you reach 100 quid. You can choose whatever amount and denomination you want to pay each month. I think its a great idea for purchasing land. I mean if 300 people on here set up say a standing order of a fiver each month thats £18,000 raised in a year.

 

No problem with that, but....AIUI the problem for some people is that they simply do not have the odd £100 to spare regardless of whether it is paid in full up front or by regular instalments. But they may have (say) £10 which they are willing to donate by any simple method.

 

Exactly. My income fluctuates and the cash flow doesn't allow for fixed regular donations. I give support where I can, and when I can. The easier it is to donate, the better.
That said, I appreciate EA's problem and look forward to them finding a way round.
Mike

 

I just wanted to put a shout out to Tony Nicholson and those who produced the new book, "L&B Story" - I was sceptical that the world needed another L&B book, but this is an excellent addition to anyone's collection.

 

I hope you mean 'picture' books. I've been working on a pair of 'history' books for more years than I care to remember. At least the books produced by the L & B Trust must generate funds for the revival. Judging by the forums and facebook there is the interest in the answers to basic questions, like: why were the bases of the pillars of Chelfham Viaduct built in stone, but the upper works in Marland brick ? Even if other questions are more difficult to answer, such as why more than one L & B Director told shareholders and the Board of Trade Inspector that enough land had been bought for a double track when the evidence on the ground and the acreage purchased from landowners demonstrates that only enough was acquired for a single track. Was it purely because the Directors wanted to counter criticism for the fact that the cost of land turned out at £20,000 or so instead of the £6,000 estimated ? The exceptions are accounted for by the 8 strips totalling 2 acres purchased - four for flatter slopes due to lie of the strata, three for ballast owing to the ballast available in cuttings proving to be much less than was anticipated, and one for a well. Despite the inevitable unanswered questions the problem with this railway is that there are almost too many sources to access if you have an interest in pursuing them.

 

Yes, forgive the imprecision - another picture book, but this is well worth it, and apparently only 1,000 copies are being printed. If there is a definitive history to come, so much the better!

Quite. Perchance it waketh!

 

That would explain the problem quoted earlier in the thread, a one pot idea could work to do a single £100 donation but first you would need to trust one another and one person would need to be the nominated shareholder. Difficult one really, i can see now why JG is preferred for one off small donations.

 

The number of books emanating from Woody Bay may appear to be over-kill but they are the product of a first class Magazine that Tony has edited since 1998 and a superb railway restoration. The reputation established by the Trust locally and nationally has induced many photograph collections to come out of the woodwork. Photographs and documents have come from individuals which would probably have remained unknown, but have been published in the Magazine, such as the report on the railway for the newly formed SR by Robert Cogger in 1923, and an article explaining ‘road box’ working. Photographs published in the ‘Celebration’ book taken in about 1926 are in a library in New Zealand which we wouldn’t have known about and have now been brought to our attention. Better reproduction of photographs has been achieved in ‘L & B Story’ which has been published by the Trust itself. Many of the pictures and documents the Trust has acquired deserve the larger format than is possible in an A5 Magazine. And this is what has been done in the books Tony produces which help publicise the revived railway and generate funds to support it.

 

Theres something about personal the personal photographic collections now coming to light which I find particularly illuminating.
The often beautifully balanced compositions by the enthusiast photographers of the day are one thing, but some of the snapshots featuring the railway, often poorly framed, sometimes overexposed, so often captured that elusive day to day atmosphere of the original railway in a way that gives those old family snaps an inestimable value. Views often "through a glass darkly", but there and tangible, nonetheless.

 

I don't think there's overkill, I think it's great that this stuff is out there in the public domain, in an easily accessible format, rather than just appearing in some obscure article. For me, the family snapshots are what really bring the line back to life, and as you say, it's a reflection on the success of the L&B Trust that this stuff becomes available. My personal dream is for all the the surviving cine film to be issued in a restored form on DVD; I believe there's a good 30 mins if not more, so it would make a decent film in itself. Sadly I fear financial and logistical issues might be too much of a barrier, although not necessarily for the actual transfer/restoration itself.

If I have one gripe about the books, it's that some of the reproduction is a bit iffy, although I realise this may in part be due to those supplying images from their personal collection not being particularly au fait with scanning technology. I've certainly known a couple of museums which fall into this category!

I'm sure I'm not the only one waiting with anticipation for Michael B's magnum opus...

 

There certainly is! As the photographic archivist of the Penrhyn Quarry Railway Society, I find that (as a generalisation) the well-known photographers concentrated on taking pretty portraits of steam locomotives to the exclusion of just about everything else - the rolling stock, diesel and petrol locomotives, the men at work etc. The amateur and snapshot photographers recorded a much wider range of subjects.

 

...and no-one bothered specifically about the signals either :-(

 

Oddly enough, our best photos of both of the PQR signals were taken by well-known photographers!