Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

I was under the impression that OSHI was on a parcel of eight acres, but I stand to be corrected on that.

 

Did you go? If not, then anything you've been told is second hand news and is questionable.

Is it not attractive to tourists at present? I would speculate that if it is not then it would have closed years ago.
Could it be made better? I'm sure it could, but that doesn't necessarily mean ripping the place apart and adding multiple bars and all the other expensive things you've suggested.

 

Hi Keith I have my sources whom I trust and they were there, but it does not stop me from having concerns about the whole deal. I honestly don't want it to fail. But people I know have asked various question and they were going to put money into the project, but so far they have not even received a reply. Do you think this is good business practice?

My views are my own and I would think they don't even register on the Companies radar. That said, I do know of at least one or two people who want to put the whole thing back to as it was in the 1930's, nice idea but unless the money turn up it ain't going to happen.

The point I am trying to make here Keith is that the people on this forum and other email groups mean diddy squat to those in charge of the project itself. I can't honestly recall when the members mag last had an article about what is going on at Woody Bay or what is happening along the line. The mag is fine if you want to know about the social history of North Devon, but just one engineering story or an update from the 762 club or the Charles Wytock project would be welcomed or even some encouragement for members to come down would be good.

Like I said above. I get to know more about what is going on via the official website which is fine if that is the way you obtain most of your news, but if for what ever reason you only get the Magazine there has been nothing in it about going after Blackmoor or anything about the Parracombe planning (and no I am not including the various flyers about all these projects, they don't make up for a proper briefing) the membership should have been properly briefed about each of these projects via the magazine. Some members I know feel they are being overruled and made to feel that they just don't count and they are only wanted for their money.

The membership should be treated with a certain amount of respect. Again I have my sources to keep me up to date with the information. But personally I don't like what I am hearing about, that is coming down the track. It is not what I and 3000 odd members have sign up for.

But rest assured this place will be told if and when it needs to be.

 

A members' mag isn't necessarily composed by board policy, but by the editor, who choses what to put in it. I contribute to two magazines, and read a third, and they change when there is a different editor. Often editors explain why there isn't an article about this or that by saying that they never get any articles from that source. Some editors are investigative journalists, but many just publish what they get, and don't necessarily pursue those that send nothing.
I do read the L&B magazine (although I'm not actually a member) and enjoy the historical articles. I wouldn't go to the magazine for news though, it's too slow with publishing. The best way to get news is to be there! I learn quite a lot from the galas for example.

 

Hi Yes I understand that there are many ways to get the message across. But with a magazine and when the membership are properly briefed, it can work as a good fundraising tool It is something that a lot of bigger charities do and it is something I have tried to encourage in the past.

Of course the normal cry from the editor is they alway want more copy, as for the Magazine yes I get the bit about the history of the railway. After all it was that which attracted me to the railway in the first place.

However if you want members or just passers by to donate money to your cause what better way than via a magazine that tell you what is going on?

Many years ago when I was more active, we used to give the Magazine to interested parties that wanted to support the railway, it is that part of the support base I want to rein-gauge with. I am not suggesting for a moment we need to remove the Editor but as a tool, the magazine can play a far bigger part in getting people to part with their money to the cause.

 

Colin, your sentence, highlighted above in bold lettering serves only to prove beyond reasonable doubt that you do not understand how the L&BR distributes its news. Most project news is communicated to members in the L&BR Newsletter, which is normally sent with the L&BR Magazine, but is sometimes posted separately. Now you being a long standing L&BR Life Member, I would have thought you would known about these things.

Three Newsletters have been published thus far during 2022, the contents of each I list below:

L&BR Newsletter No,75 January 2022

• 2022 - Welcome to a New Year
• Winter Prize Draw
• A Correction
• Ecoal
• Plastic Sleepers
• Membership
• News from the Midweek Gangs
• Some thoughts from the GM (General Manager)
• Volunteering efforts
• Date for the Diary - Working Weekends

L&BR Newsletter No,76 April 2022

• A new season begins
• Extending the Railway - Killington Lane to Wistlandpound update, includes Planning, What you can do to help, Procurement, and Funding
• Woody Bay Tea Cabin
• Ecoal - coal substitutes
• Membership
• Preparing for the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) Application
• Carriage & Wagon Workshop, includes Safety, Carriages and Lessons from Covid-19, Van 23, Timber for Carriages
• Somerset & Bristol Area Support Group, includes Banknotes and coins, and L&B Magazines
• Hedges & Banks (article about Grant Funding)
• Chelfham report - Spring 2022
• Artwork for Sale
• Our Biggest Contributor (article about Gift Aid)
• Dates for the Diary

L&BR Newsletter No,77 September 2022

• The year so far
• L&B Blackmoor Company plc
• Killington Lane to Parracombe update, includes Section 73 planning delay, and Preparations to start work early 2023
• Funding, includes Return to Parracombe Appeal, Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), and L&B website
• CIC Shares
• News from the Midweek Gangs
• Carriage & Wagon Workshop, includes Van 23, Carriage No.9
• Chelfham Station Summer 2022 update
• Somerset & Bristol Area Support Group (SABA), includes L&B Back Magazine Issues
• Dates for the Diary

In conclusion, I will add that should you not see any topic of your choosing, you can assume that its absence is due to there being nothing news worthy to report at that time.

 

That is because a conclusion to the negotiations has not been announced - the proposals could well change in the meantime and it appears to have been said that there will be no comments until they have concluded.

 

If you have sources and they were there then I would assume that you have told you what they feel should be in the Public domain - so I am unclear why you are asking on this forum if anyone has further information. You have stated that 'you don't want it to fail' - but you have been quite critical about what you understand is going on. Some of your suggestion about what should be done at the OSHI are strange and expensive and I suspect would upset the local residents who need to be kept on side.

I believe that the membership are treated with respect. There is plenty of information in the newsletters. I assume that as a member you recieve the newsletter with the magazine? You are entitled to your opinion and I am sorry if you don't like 'what you are hearing about' - but don't presume to speak for the '3000 odd members' - you certainly don't speak for me.

 

Seconded. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion (though not their own facts). But as another of the 3,000-odd, let's just say that if you merged the newsletter and the Magazine the sum would be a better version of Talyllyn News, and I think that's one of the best.

 

Yes. I always thought of the newsletter as a kind of "stop press" add-on, as printing and distribution times of magazines tend to be a bit lengthy. I'd like to see the two amalgamated, but if it means important information being left out, then perhaps not, particularly as it is currently the only source of up to date information avaliable for the membership at large.
Don't get me wrong-I love the Trust mag, and find it's historical features both scholarly, and deeply evocative. It's an excellent publication, but it would be interesting to know just how much could still be included, and for how long, beyond published press dates.

 

Nor me.

The present eating facility follows on from 'The Bungalow', later rebuilt in 1930 as the Blackmoor Gate Hotel across the road run by Mr Broom (who bought the station in 1938) which operated until it was burnt down in December 1970. The facility therefore has a long established and successful track record as it is, which, as has been related here, fills a need with both visitors and the local population. The suggestion that there should be two or three bars and an entertainment centre/function rooms is a ludicrous one and would almost certainly be a financial and reputational disaster. It is not in any way appropriate. The existing setup has worked well for years, owned and run by people who know what they're doing. Let's hope it stays that way.

 

Without disagreeing with a word you say about a pub I've never been inside, it is dangerous to assume that because something works today, that is necessarily the right long term model.

 

I'd put the emphasis on a different part of the sentence when I read it - 'owned and run by people who know what they're doing' - which covers that surely?

 

Both matter - and in the context of a sale, I am suggesting that the conditions of "owned and run by people who know what they're doing" may involve considering change rather than just keeping it "as is". None of which should be implied as supporting or opposing the specific views of anyone who's commented on the OSHI and how it might be most successful in the medium and long term.

I of course hope that the sale process has included sight of accounts and suitable relevant expertise being applied to both how the OSHI is, and thinking about how it may change.

 

Michael I do apricate that you are one of the leading historian on the L&BR, but markets and tastes change over time and the site will change again once the railway itself is built, nothing can stay the same at Blackmoor, you know as well as I do, that the old station building at Blackmoor looks nothing like it did back in 1935.

As has been said so many times before, this is not a recreation of the old L&BR, it never can be, but what it is, is a modern day tourist Railway that we can all enjoy, at the end of the day everything has to be commercially successful and that sadly, is how this railway is going to survive.

As an example of how things need to be, just look at how the new Welsh Highland Railway is being run.

 

Now I do think that's dangerous, as anything other than a call to be open minded.

While there are some (IMO superficial) parallels between the two, the Welsh Highland is doing things the way it needs to do them.

But then so too are Southwold, The Mid Suffolk, The Great Central, The Talyllyn etc. So that's five different ways that things 'need' to be done before we open the field to any more comers. The L&B should always look at what can be learned from other railways, but fundamentally it's got to do its own thing. And if that ends up looking nothing like how the Welsh Highland is being run (and nevertheless works) then that's fine.

 

.... and with every component part geared in such a way as to maximise that success. I love the notion of seeing two full blown L&B heritage trains passing at Chelfham (I see no harm indulging a spot of optimism betimes), but will be intrigued to learn the range of considerations brought to bear on the design of "new new stock" .... motive power, signalling, PW kit etc.

 

My point was not about the railway as such, and therefore not related to whether the Railway is to be recreated as it was or not. But it is self evident that when the Railway reaches Blackmoor it will have to change whoever owns OSHI. I would think there would have to be sandwiches etc on offer to take on the train, even more so when the line extends to Lynton, so that customers can take their food with them for the day visiting L & L as, having travelled to Blackmoor, they wont have time to sit down and eat before getting on the train. A gift shop will be considered, but the eating accommodation and Pub facilities surely will not change radically. Possibly an ice-cream counter would be a money-maker - the staff will know if such things are likely to be viable.

 

My point entirely I was just throwing out some concepts about what could or could not be located at OSHI not what is going to happen .

 

I don't think any design work has been started yet, but in an ideal world something like the new observation/vistadome coaches that are on the Darjeeling might be a good place to start:-

http://dhr.in.net/dhr-coaches.php