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Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

Discussion in 'Narrow Gauge Railways' started by 50044 Exeter, Dec 25, 2009.

  1. RailWest

    RailWest Part of the furniture

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    Several suggestions about "a siding", but - with respect - no indication from anyone so far as to precisely where it might be located or in which direction it should face.

    Propelling anything in/out of Parracombe through Churchtown Bridge would be difficult to control simply by hand-signals or similar because of the poor sighting on the curve past Fairview through the cutting, coupled with the lack of clearance under the bridge meaning no staff walkway in event of an emergency.

    Propelling back to KL would be pointless (no pun intended!) anyway 'cos (a) the extension to PE will by-pass the existing station and (b) it was a condition of the planning consent for KL that the land on which the station and loop are built - which is outwith the original trackbed - must be cleared and returned to its original state once the line is extended southwards.
     
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  2. 21B

    21B Part of the furniture

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    Well, I suppose the suggestion of a siding is based on the premise that if there is any room for a loop there is by definition room for a siding since that is simply a single ended loop?

    Anyway, I think we've done this to death now haven't we?
     
  3. Axe +1

    Axe +1 New Member

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    Colin, there will be a "Discussion Forum" meeting for members of the L&BR Trust this year on Saturday 12th November at the usual venue/usual start time at Woolhangar reasonably close to Woody Bay station. The reason that there has been no publicity thus far is that the estate is under new ownership following the death of the previous owner and there has been considerable delay in booking the venue this year. The event I understand will be publicsed shortly.
     
  4. Meatman

    Meatman Member

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    sorry,maybe i should have been a little more clear,not a tenant in the commercial sense but one in the private sense in the attached accommodation
     
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  5. Mark Thompson

    Mark Thompson Well-Known Member

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    Stuart Nelhams posted this lovely picture on Facebook earlier, from the weekend's gala. It's about as evocative as it gets:
    307691425_10160319698219712_4335930941269128640_n.jpg
     
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  6. jamesd

    jamesd Member

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    Lovely picture but its a shame the carriages and locos aren't in matching liveries.
     
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  7. free2grice

    free2grice Part of the furniture Friend

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    I don't see that as a problem. At the nearby WSR the coaches have been repainted so that there are often three different liveries to one train :rolleyes: <BJ>
     
  8. Michael B

    Michael B Member

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    We just need another 5 carriages; they can be painted in Southern Railway green as the second rake and then things will match. Oh and another couple of engines in SR livery (one of them in the 'intermediate' livery of the mid-twenties). That would be nice ! Along with a longer Railway. But it is good that Paul Lewin and the Festiniog are prepared to make all the effort to bring LEW (sorry - LYD) down to North Devon for the gala.
     
  9. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    What is lovely is to see Two trains on the L&B hauled by L&B locomotives. Well Done to all concerned - was it a successful gala in terms of numbers/finances?
     
  10. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Ker-Ching! What's another couple of mill when there's an extention to be built, eh?

    I daresay extra stock already has been factored into costs (it'd be odd had it not) and seem to recall a comment that carriages containing original material (another five, I think) would appear in L&B colours, which I assume to mean the full finery we see on the five completed to date,with SR colours for entirely newbuild construction.

    As to the "simplified late independent", can't recall any sort of comment on it's reappearance. I suppose if someone were to cough up for a carriage or five, the L&B management may look favourably on their livery preferences*.

    Do we mention the luckiest L&B carriages, Nos.2 and 15?

    One by-the-by .... oodles of photos of the original line clearly show complex patterns on the locos, executed by skillfully applied polishing wax. Bob alone knows how long that took to do and in my books, it's one reason to stick with Maunsell Green! :)

    *purely a personal view tbis, but I tend to think malachite green or monastral blue better suits non-panelled stock!
     
  11. Michael B

    Michael B Member

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    David Tooke manning the entry at Killington Lane late afternoon on Sunday gave that impression when we left. But a problem taking card money presumably because of the internet connection didn't help on the Saturday. Great idea to hire a field next to Killington Lane for parking.
     
    Last edited: Sep 27, 2022
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  12. RailWest

    RailWest Part of the furniture

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    I understand that there is some 'talk' - if not more than that at the moment - about putting in a 'phone line between WB and KL for operational purposes. Maybe with suitable multi-core cabling it could support not only an 'internal' railway phone but also a phone link for a card reader and perhaps even a WiFi 'hotspot' for those visitors who can't get a mobile signal. The telecomms 'Principles' for future L&BR signalling envisage the potential provision of a lineside cable route for Phase 2A et seq, so WB-KL could be a good start and provide some practical experience in readiness for heading to PE and beyond.
     
  13. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    ..... although it does well highlight the need to plan very carefully for events, ere Parracombe features again on the timetable. I make no apology for raising this matter again, as I believe it's of crucial importance to the L&B (especially) at this juncture.

    Courtesy of a link brought to my attention via Barrie Hughes' (www.isengard.co.uk) website, I was reading up on some minutes of the Parish Council from May of this year, which demonstrates precisely the sort of issues which are of local concern. Whilst I don't for a moment counsel surrendering the pass to the worst of NIMBY tendencies, I do believe we on here need to be very alert to legitimate local concerns and take them into account in our expressions of support for the line.

    https://parracombe.org.uk/minutes-24-may-2022/

    I've made clear my own views on community relations several times. I'd love to see a restored L&B enjoying the sort of productive symbiotic relationship existing in - among other places- the Dulas Valley, on Purbeck and evidently (particularly delighted to note) increasingly on the Isle of Man. Remember that every word we write is visible to the wider world and if we've a small part to play in the story of all our lines, that's in being conscious and respectful of the views and sensibilities in those communities in which they exist when we discuss matters.
     
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  14. RailWest

    RailWest Part of the furniture

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    I note from reading the PPC's Minutes:-

    "...Statements were given by members of the public starting with a representative from the L&BR who spoke about the benefits to the area, the environmental statement, together with the minimal amount of pollution by burning coal...."

    followed by:-

    "..Numerous residents spoke against the proposal on the grounds of:
    • More pollution due to cars visiting the turntable at Parracombe Halt. Eight trains a day, meaning that there will be sixteen trips a day. To turn an engine around takes ten to fifteen minutes."
    Apart from the fact that engines will not be 'turned' anyway, even it they were I would suggest 5 mins max would be more than adequate. Perhaps they are meaning the whole process of running around a train in the platform? In which case IMHO it would be likely to be only a minute or two longer than currently happens at KL.

    What concerns me is that - allowing for the non-verbatim status of such Minutes - there is no indication that the 'L&BR representative' made any statements to counter the misleading comments already being made about engines being turned, allegedly vibrations from the turntable (how?) etc :-( It would appear to have been a missed opportunity to set the record straight.

    Does anyone have any more detail please?
     
  15. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    Alternatively, if the L&B presented their point of view and then opponents were allowed to get their concerns off their chest, the meeting may have drawn some of the sting of opposition but without getting into a set piece row where the L&B would have been in effect saying "you're wrong". What isn't clear is how the L&B speaker pre-emptively addressed the sort of concerns that were raised by local residents.
     
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  16. RailWest

    RailWest Part of the furniture

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    The comments about 'environmental statement' and 'burning coal' etc would suggest that at least some concerns were addressed, but it's unclear about the rest.

    As regards the possibility that road users might illegally drive down the bridle way to access the station (I've seen it - I wouldn't do that in my car!) , surely that is a matter for the appropriate authorities to handle? After all, no would suggest that (say) the Fox & Goose should not sell alcohol in case customers then drove home when drunk....
     
    Last edited: Sep 27, 2022
  17. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    The highlighted sentence is true enough, but in reality is a semantic point as the underlying fears concern disruption of village lfe. We really need to be careful with how we approach arguments. Getting into a nut kicking contest may appeal to some, but please do resonate some understanding. No-one is going to win hearts and minds by crudely hammering opposition into the ground as if they're no more than some recalcitrant thick headed yokel to be told what they should be thinking. That, oddly, tends to get peoples' backs up, which serves only to galvanise opposition and is the diametric opposite of what's needed.

    I'm anxious to see a revived L&B. In point of fact, I want to see a viable route, past Pilton amd through to Barnstaple big railway station*. Like @RailWest (and all on our forum) I want to see the railway succeed and exceed all projections. I want to see local opposition subsumed within the wider economic benefits I firmly believe the line will bring. What I emphatically don't want to see is a legacy of ill-will on the back of nothing more substantial than some carelessly expressed sentiment which didn't come from the L&BR , the L&BT or EA in the first place.

    All I'm saying is that the majority of us lot don't live on Exmoor and we ought to keep in mind the local opposition does, as does the local support (let's please not forget there's a lot of that too) and the operating railway does, both now and long into the future.

    *No, I haven't ..... yet!
     
  18. H Cloutt

    H Cloutt Member

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    I see a lot of similarities with the situation with the RVR at Robertsbridge. In this case the two landowners who are against their land being used for the scheme, have got a lot of support from their neighbours who then raised objections both to the TWAO and RVR's S73 application. Fortunately RVR's S73 application was approved and then work was started to preserve the Planning consent. The TWAO involved a very lengthy public Inquiry which finished just over a year ago - the report is still not published.
     
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  19. RailWest

    RailWest Part of the furniture

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    I understand the point which you are making and agree wholeheartedly with the wider sentiments of your comments.

    However...the point about the 'semantics' of the turntable is that local residents have developed fears of a situation seemingly akin to Minehead leading to a mass tourist invasion by car to see something - an engine being turned - which actually is not going to happen (other than maybe once in a blue moon for engineering purposes). IMHO a simple clarification that the turntable will actually be used simply as a sector table, and in effect therefore will be very little different from a point, might go quite a long way to alleviating, if not totally eliminating, one particular 'bone of contention'.

    To that extent therefore I make no excuses for continuing to make that as clear as can be possible whenever the opportunity arises, in the hope that maybe eventually the message will filter through to those most concerned by it.....
     
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  20. Meatman

    Meatman Member

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    michael, im quite actually taken by the terracotta variants as on the Lionheart stand, i'd heard that was how the carriages were originally supplied but to see something that resembled them was very refreshing
     
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