Weardale, Dartmoor and RMS for sale

Probably, but (bear with me) ..... A lot of noise was made about rail reopenings in the GE campaign and talk is of major housing construction in the Tavistock area, with developers pitching in to meet the cost of Bere Alston-Tavistock reinstatement. It's outside the 'London & South East' bit, wot they've said has been getting too much .... plus Torridge &West Devon has been LD within the past couple of decades (and Plymouth isn't the truest of blues), so not mega-safe. Not a cast iron certainty by any stetch of the imagination, but with the vulnerability of the Dawlish line, I could conceive of a combination of factors leading to a decision to reopen the whole route.

 

Is the track owned by BAR, or just leased and still owned by Network rail? if its just leased, then its quite straight foreward for NR to take it back in house, of course, it depends on the big question, is there a financial case for it, summer rail services and a bus link between the two ends of the line did run last year, so did it cover its costs, and could it with local government funding operate all year round? if there is a business case for it,

 

Line is owned by AI not NR or BAR.

 

Sorry, but who or what is AI?

Peter

 

Aggregate Industries. See post 7.

Steve

 

Aggregate Industries is AI, how much they actually own ??

 

Aggregate industrys L.T.D. peter that stands for when i googled who owns the L.S.W.R. okehampton line. ( i just hope at least until a buyer or N.R. decide what to do with the Dartmouth line to Meldon quarry the tracks are mothballed AND NOT TORN UP for the metal fairies and is always considered as a diversionary route to plymouth via ber Bere Alston, and dosent become a similar victim like the ex lancashire and yorkshire line through cleckheaton where i live that got bought by a preservstion group after been used by B.R. for a tar works in cleckheaton and also charington hargreaves oil refinery at heckmondwike and who couldent afford to repair the 8 miles of tracks from Thornhill jct Dewsbury to low moor bradford to where transperience were based to ultimatly run trams on but never happened due to lack of money although some trams were bought, but the site was sold and the 8 mile line bought by the local council and sustrans but railtrack i think in 1996 pulled the lines up but the bridges retained then tarmacked and became route 66 spen valley greenway cycleway.

 

Beat me to it steve, but the line i would be more concerned about is the weardale line to eastgate but has quite historical significance cos is makes a end on to george stevensons stockton and Darlington line maybe giving it historical appeal at least.
Davo 56F.

 

Weardale railway trust, out out a statement tonight. Railway is owned by a community interest company, BARS were the largest shareholder. But not the only one. So it is BARS shares for sale.

 

So is that saying for both the okehampton ex L.S.W.R. line to plymouth and the weardale a ex N.E. mineral line to wearhead they are not going to be sold and the tracks lifted i hope, I thought the goverment transport minster was looking at reopening old trackbeds such as the bicester to cambridge (one good example) and that have not been built on and keeping lines like these alive or has something dramatically changed?

 

The leaseholder and operator’s American parent company has gone bust. That’s the only drama here. The government doesn’t know what is going to happen, at least until it becomes clear whether anyone will bid to take over one or more of these subsidiaries.

 

As far as the Dartmoor Railway is concerned, basically its clearly an opportunity to pot Okehampton back on the National Network and start site assembley for the reinstatement of the LSWR line to Plymouth, BUT does anyone have the money?

I suggest not, and that the Government has and will have for many years to come, its eyes on other things.

 

Grayling made a backup route a priority, but but did not do much, now Dawlish is fixed the backup route to Plymouth may not be a priority if GWR will not make any money from it?.
Could be the current minister Shapps might find some cash for it in case the Dawlish line fails again? He has several priorities and seems to be slowly working through them but HS2 will probably take up a lot of his time?
I expect the administrator of the heratige Dartmoor railway will want to get a new buyer sorted before trains run again in March?

 

Although not optimal, railway history is littered with lines which operated under the aegis of a receiver. Not a million miles from Dartmoor, the Weston, Clevedon & Portishead ran much of it's life in receivership. The NWNGR even named their flagship loco after their receiver ..... and it's still with us .... Russell

 

There is no economic reason for putting Okehampton back on the National network. With a population of approx 7500 it really isn't likely to generate much traffic.
As for the potential for reinstating the line to Plymouth, we've discussed it on here before. It is about ten miles longer than the existing line from Exeter to Plymouth and doesn't serve any other towns apart from Tavistock (pop abt 13,000), which would be better served, if needed, by an extension from Plymouth. There are several options for the sea-side stretch from Dawlish Warren to Teignmouth and it would make no sense to put the main line round the north of Dartmoor and leave Torbay, Newton Abbot and the coastal towns with an 80 mile rail trip to Exeter via Plymouth !
I do hope somebody can step up with a plan for the Dartmoor railway, but it is not going to be a commuter line any time in the near future.

 

What are the other options if there is a problem with the sea-side stretch from Dawlish other than via Okehampton?

 

See the thread "Should Network Rail now look seriously at re-instating the Southern route to Plymouth?"

 

Exeter - Dawlish - Plymouth - Okehampton - Exeter as a circular tour would be a good tourist attaction.

 

I can't see anyone bidding for all three divisions, they're more likely to be sold off separately, but can Weardale survive on little more than the annual Polar Express services?