Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

So, in other words, a set of questions constrained by factors you’ve decided on and fit your vision of what the restored L&B might look like. For those of us not intimately acquainted with the costs of railway preservation, the values wee meaningless, so I’m going to ignore them.

If money were no object, I’d restore the L&B through to Town, then extend it over a reinstated Taw bridge to Junction. At Lynton, I’d extend it towards the town.

For rolling stock, I’d look hard at what is being done elsewhere, but stick to designs that support the L&B livery (plain olive green is just dull). The existing loading gauge would however be retained, and designs chosen around what would fit, rather than try to revise the loading gauge to suit.

The same principles would apply to traction. There would be necessarily be a Manning Wardle bias, but the objective would be to develop based on what subsequent owners might have done to develop the railway’s ability to operate tourist traffic economically. Battery electric and diesel would be considered

All of the above would be based on the existing constraints of station sites and platform lengths, recognising the possibility that additional loops may be needed to offer a commercially viable service rather than override the history by extending the stations significantly - the L&B is a small railway, and that flavour needs to be retained. If the WHR is South African 2ft brought to Wales, and the Ffestiniog is touristified, this would represent a different facet of preservation and restoration.

Depot facilities would be based on a proper analysis of sites and needs, and Blackmoor would be treated as just another site, with OSHI taken as it is, assuming that it remains a viable business.