Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

Just glancing at the L&B map again - the section just north of the EA's Loxhore Bank to Chumhill section - does that go through someone's front garden? And the section south of Collard Bridge, is that through the Scout Camp or another property?

(Yes, this might be an attempt to move the conversation to another topic...)

 

Although @DaveE and @Tobbes clearly disagree over many things I reckon they’d get on courteously enough in person, therefore I nominate them to meet over a pint or two in the OSHI.

Their mission is to develop a draft peace-plan (not a railway extension plan), and then ask all the boards, or at least one rep. from each, to consider it. It needs a few people, from different factions, to reach out and initiate something like this (and to stomach some compromises) otherwise I predict nothing’ll change.

 

I second this motion

 

That also pains me, yet I believe many of these fractures are of long standing. Somehow, we need to get beyond bridges (under which trolls may hide) and towards handshakes and real reconciliation.


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First, we need to get beyond Bridge 65 !

Sadly, I suspect any suggestion about a possible 'summit' meeting in the OSHI may well lead to yet more discussion as to whether or not it will still be in business by then......

 

Although an extension to CFL is far less than what we had all hoped for, IMHO there are many positives in doing it:

• Rebuilding bridge 65 has to be a major positive, allowing physical breakout from WB - KL, as well as securing handover to Devon County Council
• The line passes under a bridge, through a cutting and heads inland, offering quite different scenery to be enjoyed by passengers (I have walked the line from KL to Parracombe Lane)
• The line is extended by approximately 50%
• Bridge 64 and the embankment are restored
• The infill beneath Bridge 63 is excavated and the bridge is repaired
• It shows that the L&B is serious about extending and can successfully deliver major civil engineering projects
• It would be a small but significant part of the restoration of KL to OSHI completed
• It will generate interest and enthusiasm
• If managed well, it may build trust with the locals

 

I would agree with all of the above, but......(well, there's always a 'but', isn't there )....the problem that I see is with the last item. That is predicated on building the line first, whereas in practice you may well to gain the trust of the locals first - and at the moment it is hard to see how that will be achieved unless the Trust can 'work miracles' in a public consultation.

 

Absolutely agree. The point about showing that the L & B is serious and can deliver is important for when a TWAO application is submitted.

 

I'm humbled to think you have thought of me as being worthy of attempting a peace plan as I am sure Toby is too.

 

Further proof of your qualification

 

I did clearly state in an earlier post that a plan to create a forum of people, one from each trust and one from each CIC was being looked at until Anne was put in the position to resign from the L&BR CIC, now that she is a trustee that plan can still go ahead, some of us are working together as i mentioned earlier. The bigger issue at the moment is getting the L&BR Trustee's to work together because it seems that some of the old guard cant work with the newbies

 

Just north of the Loxhore-Chumhill section is Chumhill,from the boundary the line goes over a high embankment then pretty much right along the entrance/side of the property's yard and yes south of Collard Bridge the line runs through the Scout camp

 

Idea's please, what would you have in mind in all seriousness and this would be regarding EA's trackbed in the south, I'm all up for getting the trackbed sorted to sub-ballast/ ballast level and correct fencing erected, maybe some line for occasional velocipede activity . there is a real need to promote the existence (then and now)of the L&B Railway locally, not just at Woody Bay but the route as a whole and the project as a whole, hence the signs I mentioned in an earlier post

 

Sounds a bit like what we have been doing on the Southwold Railway - in addition to the restoration of Blythburgh Station we have been putting in bits of track (even though they are unlikely to be used in the near future) in Halesworth and earlier at Wenhaston - and where that can't be done, for whatever reason, clearing, doing archaeology, re-instating original fencing, planting trees, and so on - getting local people used to the idea of the railway again, and keeping the volunteers amused (and upskilled). Most of it has been on trackbed not owned by the CIO - done by permission of the landowner. All paid for by sleeper and other sponsorship, too.
The L&B trackbed would seem to have ample opportunities to do this, in various forms - OK, not a working railway - but the next best thing. In some cases doubtless PP would be required - but PP for such activities (i.e. short of a working railway) should be a lot easier to obtain. Why bother, I hear you cry - well, rather that on-the-ground activity than no activity.

 

Exactly the sort of thing I had in mind

 

Likewise! Let's get a beer, @DaveE

 

We can grab a jar of Exmoor finest at OSHI and have a natter, we can try and get some sort of offering of a peace plan, whether it will work is another matter but we can try. As long as folks understand we have no power or authority, it's merely looking to see if there are ways to at least lessen some of the arguments and bitterness that we are seeing at the moment.

 

Thanks Meatman - so any extension north or south of Chelfham has it's own complications too (if completely hypothetically that happened)

 

There's also a hundred yards or so in the middle of the Chelfham Station section too that belongs to Valley Cottage

 

The Valley Cottage section is only 23 metres in length, and if push comes to shove, that could be circumvented.