Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

Is there a reason why EA could not have become a charity so it could carry out those activities, rather than create yet another L&B related company?

 

AFAIAA this is an accurate description. How then do you arrive at "From what little I know about this, the YVT seems to be quite 'gung ho' (maybe not quite the right expression, but you get the idea) about developing a 'modern' railway from Pilton to Bratton Fleming for commuter traffic. Whether this materialises and/or works in practice remains to be seen." which you posted earlier. There is a huge difference between "engaging in 'community engagement' apropos a future restored L&BR" and advocating for a modern commuter railway.

 

Isn't there just. For Bob's sake why is this being suggested?

This is the timetable for the bus between Lynmouth and Barnstaple (Town Centre and Rail Stn) for right now, October: https://bustimes.org/services/310-lynton-lynmouth-barnstaple

Perhaps I'm missing something, but a narrow gauge rail service, likely significantly slower than the bus, which disgorges it's punters at Pilton, some way from the centre of Barnstaple, plus the same distance again from the mainline station seems unlikely to generate custom the rather less inconvenient bus clearly hasn't developed.

There was a reason the old line failed, namely it couldn't compete with 1930s buses and lorries. With a max 25mph on the none-too-long straighter stretches, PSRs on curves and in stations, could someone please explain how anyone could think even with modern stock, it could possibly compete for regular commercial traffic?

If anyone says 2ft gauge Pendelino, for the sake of whatever's left of my sanity, I'm blocking them immediately.

 

Agreed. In my view, the L&B is going to be a tourist railway which, like Ffestiniog/WHR, can provide local people with an amenity depending on what their needs are.
What it was not (in 1935) and is most unlikely to become (in 203X) is the fastest public transport route between the two towns which it bears in its name.

And, for the avoidance of doubt, that's absolutely fine!

 

I suspect that this was difficult in view of the articles of the company. I am sure that advice was taken from specialists in the field. There may be an explaination in the Trackbed trails archive on the EA website - I will check later.

 

Maybe so, but there are ways to change the articles of a company, rather than setting up another one!

 

You forget the distance of the intermediate stations from the local housing…

I also suspect that much of the local public transport is school and college oriented, at which point the L&B is poorly situated, especially without a rail connection to Barnstaple Junction.


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the yeo valley trust has been in existence for many years, it is in the process of being upgraded which i am informed is being quite complicated and long winded

 

Sadly, I think for too long too many members of the L&BR have done just that and not been proactive with the railways development

 

The problem is less likely to be simply changing the articles, more one of changing to be a charity and incorporating charitable purposes into what they do.

 

Not forgotten, but you're perfectly correct. Doesn't exactly add to the case for commuter services, does it?. The most sizable community actually on the railway's route is Parracombe and it'd be a mistake to think any of the intermediate villages with a station named after them were any larger or more important than any number of Exmoor communities without so prestigious and distant a facility.

 

That's pretty much, IIRC, how Mike Buse explained it to me, hence the need for a separate body, which would also be able to move in different directions, which EA would not be able to.

 

As much to the point, I suspect the local bus companies have enough challenge making their routes viable when they can go round the houses without the costs of reinstating a railway that doesn't serve all of those communities. The A39 is hardly motorway standard, and the road from Bratton Fleming to Barnstaple is frankly no more than a good country lane.

 

I also think that YVT has been in existence for quite a few years but is now taking on more tasks. It's quite common to set up a number of organisations so that assets are ring fenced. I also understand that YVT is now going through the process of registering as a Charity.

 

If you dig out details of the bus routes crossing Exmoor, you'll likely rapidly be struck by how difficult it is to use public transport for commuting. If 'rush hour' traffic can't support a bus network ..... well, draw your own conclusions.

I was 'umming and aahing' whether to include this in my previous, but it got very unwieldy, very quickly, but since you raise the point (and I'll do my best to be concise).

Rural bus services are often commercially marginal, at best. This obviously isn't something defined by the scenic quality of an area, but in reinstating a major tourist attraction to an area bringing in tourists since the advent of mass travel, a vanishingly rare opportunity is presented to kill two birds with one stone.

Consider: What proportion of visitors to Exmoor arrive by car? 50%? 70%? 90%? Can we agree it's far more likely to be (at least) 90%? Can we also agree that road traffic levels, primarily due to visiting cars, have been identified as a serious problem for the local communities?

Obvious sounding question, but what do these visitors by car want? Individually, there are likely nearly as many answers as visitors, but they do have a few key things in common. They want to arrive and leave by car and not have to worry about being stranded miles from their car. At the moment, the only realistic choice is to drive as close as possible to where you want to be and/or confine yourself to an 'out and back' trip.

Even a reinstated L&B acting as an effective P&R for the twin villages (and boy, could they use that .... yesterday. Ditto, to a slightly lesser extent, Parracombe) only frees up one artery, albeit a very major one, but what it does do is to provide the opportunity for round trips from the car, be that sightseeing bus trip first and back by rail, or vice versa.

Then there's the question that visitors are effectively being told their option is limited to a return train trip. That may well be the preferred option for us lot, most of the time, but it doesn't follow that's true for innocent family visitors, with two screaming kids and an excitable dog in tow. Maybe some want to see more of Exmoor once than one bit twice? Perhaps a bus or train journey out, a sport of sightseeing, lunch and back via a different route? IMO, offering flexibility and choice is vital.

I'm not for a minute suggesting that Exmoor could support the frequency of Hop-On, Hop-Off sightseeing routes you find in major cities, but between fixed terminal points, with a few key locations firmly in mind, a reasonable network ought no to be beyond the wit of man. Obviously too, something which would take some proper market research to establish some base line data on which to work. Given that, though, such services would also immeasurably improve access to public transport across Exmoor. Reach that point and you're into a growing public transport situation. Unfamiliar territory for many parts of the UK.

Food for thought?

 

I am an EA shareholder and I've seen very little information about the YVT.

 

The Bluebell has three owning/governing/supporting/whatever organisations, and their fields of activity seem less diverse than the L&B's three. But the paucity of information about the YVT is, to say the least, disappointing. If they're intending to become a charity they must have drawn up some sort of governing document for submission to the Charity Commission; but perhaps they prefer not to make that public until they have addressed any comments from the CC.

 

This week has been the first I've heard of it. If that's where the suggestion for L&B commuter services originated, I'm given to wonder what purpose it's membership think to serve?

 

Food for thought, but I suspect still thinner gruel than one would like when the much tighter packed and tourist intensive Lake District struggles to keep those routes viable.

 

Thanks - I am afraid that many asking questions on here aren't shareholders. I agree that shareholders haven't received a lot of information about YVT but there has been some mention in the most recent shareholder email which I received.