Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

It would not be my first choice to be honest, but the FR/WHR works locos are all in Grey, maybe wasp strips are required on each end. I suppose the same could be said for black steam locomotives. I suppose whatever colour you turn them out in, someone will not be happy.

Two factors come into play: who buys the paint, and whether it was cheap. This reminds me of a story I was once told about a painting contract (I can't confirm whether it was true or not). But the story goes that the store man was told to order 10 1/2 gallon tins of red paint, but it was misread at the suppliers, and they ended up with 10 12-gallon containers of red paint.

Of course, we could have a Ford enthusiast at Woody Bay who was told you can have them in any colour you like as long as it is grey.

I'll get my coat

 

It's not my cup of tea, but looks smart and presentable for what is I suspect a lot less effort than a more complex livery - I suspect the most important consideration. Reading other threads about paint manufacturers, I'm not sure how important I see price being - there seem to be paints out there which are cheap but not so good, and I'd rather more had been spent to do a longer lasting job.

 

Is it used for passenger services or is it simply treated as a piece of plant?

 

If its plant then it should be green

 

Its just the current (inexplicable) fashion. Look at the colour of 95% of cars. White or grey audis, teslas, - the electric volvo on the tv ad just now....I don't understand why boring misery seems to be all the rage, but here we are.

Cornelius Vanderbilt, the US railroad tycoon who owned the New York Central who coined this phrase. Seeing his loco sheds filled with the beautifully ornate locomotives of the Victorian era, needing maintenance, cleaning and polishing-he saw only expense, and ordered an end. It was argued that engineers had always been allowed to decorate their locomotives as they liked- and his reply was "Tell them they can still have any color they like........ as long as its black"
Henry Ford claimed in his autobiography that he made the statement- there's a lot of dubious claims in that volume- but did not actually claim to have coined it. In truth, the models N and S were gloriously colourful, and from 1908 -1913, the model T was not offered in black. However in 1910 a model T cost $780, in 1924 it was $290- and the uniform cheap black paint, introduced in 1914, was just one part of the drive to reduce production costs

 

Quite by chance - in an idle moment - I was looking at some publicity material which landed in my Inbox from a motor dealership. Nice looking new cars, but the choice of colours appeared to be white, blue or various 'shades of grey' (ahem). Quite why people drive cars that are almost invisible at night and nearly as bad to see on a typical wet wintre's day baffles me.

 

Personally, I like the plain grey livery - it is smart, understated, workmanlike, gives a 'fleet identity' with PILTON, and doesn't take anything away from the passenger-hauling locos. Besides, if anybody has a pressing desire to paint something, I'm sure the staff and volunteers at WB will be pleased to hear from new volunteers.

 

Some excellent news today - the Barnstaple and Yeo Valley Railway Trust - the new name for Exmoor Associates in effect - have annouced that they've purchased more than 700 meters of trackbed from North Devon Scouts, giving the railway family a continuous run bar 25m at Valley Cottage of 5.2 km/3.2 miles from Snapper through to just short of Chumhill!

A remarkable achievement by Mike Buse and his team - I'd often heard this argued as "impossible" and yet here it is - delivered. Raise a glass to another big step forward - and if you can, please consider donating here.

 

A new YouTube, courtesy of Keith Edwards, has been released in conjunction with this great news.



(also available via the BYVRT website, see my signature below)

 

That is most welcome news, and the Video is not bad either

 

Great video, but really drives home the enormity of what has to be overcome to reinstate the line in its entirety. Makes the WHR look like a Sunday School picnic.

 

It'll come, Sheff - the progress on the trackbed acqusition south of Wistlandpound Dam is remarkable, and each piece of the jigsaw makes the next one a little easier - not easy, but easier. This is really happening.

 

I hope so, but without massive outside investment you’re talking many decades.

 

This has been one of my pet noirs for ages. I did send in an outline fundraising plan, but got nothing back. Now, while the basics of fundraising have not changed, the methods have, and today, there is more use of social media in these large campaigns.

Making the ask is one thing; engaging people is something totally different. If it is handled correctly, there is no reason why a 4-mile section can not be reopened by 2035, plus the running of a replica 1935 last train as well.

 

And what I see from the latest Trackbed Trails is campaigning - including fundraising - that is achieving precisely what you suggest. And the key feature I see in it is close involvement in the area, including a level of personal commitment that is above and beyond.

 

@35B is spot on.

We should be clear that there is a case to be made for external support if there is something for something, and that this is the most effective - or even the only - method of delivering public goods. We're not going to get much of a response to "We'd quite like £100m to play trains with, please". (I jest with the figure, but we're looking at a multi-million pound scheme to reconstruct any of the obvious next steps - and we need to be clear eyed about that.)

 

Is this 25m perceived as a a major difficulty, or relatively simple to overcome within the kind of timescale which might soon be speculated about?

 

I don't think it's a major issue, but it's a bit delicate. The BYVT people are quite good at problem solving

 

@Miff - the 25m is also north of Chlefham, so if you were building from the south into Chelfham, it wouldn't be an immediate need, but it would obviously be a nice to solve asap.

 

I agree we also need to realise that good fundraising needs a plan to look at all sources of funds, so as things stand, we need to set up a fundraising group. I think we could use a modified wishing well planning process as the first step.

We also need to understand that the sort of fundraising we need to do, is not going to be easy; it will take a lot of effort. Setting this up will require some seed money, and it needs to be approached on a professional basis.

As much as I would like to see all of the railway rebuilt at once, I can't see us raising that amount in one go. Tobbs suggested £100,000,000, but if we trust Google, then to rebuild a railway like the L&BR could be about 10 million per mile, which, if you compare that to how much has been spent at Woody Bay (12 million at the last estimate), is not a bad figure to work with.

As I see things, we will all need to work together for the common goal, and I can see that we could end up with three sections of the L&B restored to full working order, working under three different management teams.

There are:-

Snapper Halt to Chelfham Approx 2 miles

Bratton Fleming, Blackmoor and Holwell Castle (outside to the south of Parracombe) Approx 6 miles

Parracombe to Caffyns Approx 3 miles

I would suggest that both the Snapper to Chelfham and the Parracombe to Caffyns sections are run with the current teams at both locations, whereas the Bratton Fleming to Holwell Castle section runs as a commercial or Lynbarn-style operation.

Obviousley this could change, and it will depend on what fundraising models we wish to use to create all of the above.

Finally, there will be, in the long run, consolidation issues that will need to be resolved before we get one continuous railway from Snapper to Caffyns.

I have, for now, deliberately not mentioned either a possible return to Barnstaple or Lynton at this stage, since we don't know how the rest of the project will be received by the local population.