Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

You're making a big assumption that the money is available for anything you want which is often not the case. The people who donated to the 762 project did so because that's the thing they want to spend their hard earned cash on. They might just like the loco, or they are one of those odd "modern steam" fanatics, or maybe they just like new build projects. There is no guarantee that money would be there for the Woody Bay toilet seat fund if some other project didn't exist, or that the people who worked so hard to raise the money would want to be involved.

 

And that is, unfortunately, one of the problems that is trying (or needs) to be addressed. When the Trust was first set up, the current situation was not envisaged, and the tribal thinking was not challenged at the time because progress was being made on a number of fronts.

The big problem with a project like the L&BR is that there are so many items that need attention at the same time that they attract different members to different areas.

In hindsight, yes, I am sure mistakes were made, but if they can be identified, then hopefully we can put that right by addressing them.

One which has a personal touch to it is 'LYN', at the time, I was just happy that the railway was planning to build her, it is only now, in the past few years, that I have started to question why we still have a second charitable trust to build something that is the L&BR Trust's responsibility to do so.

 

Fortunately those more connected with the project than me have the answer to that.

The core of that solution - "Project Unify" as it is being called around the railway - is that the current Trust is wound up. The land assets will then go into a new L&B (Land) Trust, and the operating licence will transfer to L&B (Operations) Ltd. The L&B (Land) Trust will have as a subsidiary body L&B Beverage Holdings Ltd as a wholly-owned trading subsidiary focused on Pubs in the Exmoor Area. L&B (Operations) Ltd will have the right to nominate two Directors to L&B (Land) Trust, with a reciprocal right from the Land Trust to the Operations Company. A separately constitituted Exmoor Navigation Co. will be charged with constructing new sections of railway, built on land held by the L&B (Land) Trust, but also possibly leasing land held by the separate Upper Exmoor Rail Corridor Land Acquisition Co, a CIC set up to purchase land in the area. When the Exmoor Navigation Co. has constructed some line, it will then be down to the L&B (Operations) Ltd to run trains on the new section, with a 99 year lease from the Rail Corridor Land Acquisition Co being in place to give them security of tenure. To avoid conflicts of interest, the Upper Exmoor Land Acquisition Co and the Exmoor Navigation Co may not have any shared directors. Rolling stock will be provided and maintained by Lyn Engineering LLP, who have leased a newly-constructed locomotive from Manning Wardle (2025) Ltd. Each organisation can second one of its members (elected by popular vote within the respective organisation) to Exmoor Engagement Forum, which has an informal but crucial role in ensuring each organisation knows what the others are doing. Oversight of the elections of members to the Engagement Forum will be overseen by a returning officer appointed by the LynBarn Electoral Services Trust, which is funded by a levy on each organisation and manages all Governance procedures within. To keep costs down, the Exmoor Engagement Forum have the legal right to hold one meeting per quarter in a room provided by L&B Beverage Holdings Ltd, including provision of up to one non-alcoholic drink gratis to each member attending.

By that radical simplification - which gives an easy-to-understand governance structure to the project with roles and accountabilities clear for all to see - Project Unify will deliver the "One Railway" ethos that everyone desires to see.

Tom

 

Tom, that is an absolute cracker! Unfortunately there is no NatPres equivalent emoji for tears of laughter, but that's what it deserves

 

Very droll....

 

>>>>>......provision of up to one non-alcoholic drink gratis to each member attending.....

..all of which appear to have been given to Tom before he wrote that speech
Presumably all the future passengers need to make this a success will be rounded-up by L&BR (Press Gang) Ltd, using out-of-work ICE employees from across the Pond ?

 

You tripe in jest but be wary of giving people ideas. It might come back to haunt you.

 

When I read it my first reaction was I thought it was a serious contribution coming out of the Woody bay management plan it's not beyond belief and explains one extreme of in real reality and why there is a totally different team of people working on the line south of Whistlandpound resovior .... The few who remain around the nucleus of Exmoor Associates from those busy weeks of Building the first of the part of the L&B re awakening 2000-2005 with now a lot of newer ones joing them will most likely recreate the 1'11&5/8 out of Barnstaple.

 

Every Railway was built by a Main contractor who employed specifically talented Engineers and sub contractors to make sufficiently stable groundwork and specific structures to meet the engineers requirements . They were very different to the initial contract negotiator & placer and different to the eventual operator.
Operating a railway requires very different skills to building one ! Neither are capable of the others skill sets and both can be capable of bankrupting themselves due to inadequate capability .
It's just that failure is much quicker and more apparent in the construction stage than in the operating of a perfectly good product built to an admirable standard .
One last comment . "As for plastic sleepers don't go there " , there are a multitude of reasons why not to ! when good recycled timber sleepers are still available and will be available well into the foreseeable future yes be selective about what you buy and allow to be laid . So long as the permanent way is structured as per spec and the ballast is well drained and not mud a " grade A" timber will have a life in excess of 50 years . The ones used at Woody bay to Killington lane were what we could afford !! and get , the first ones in the station had been stored in Tony Williams field about 50 of the so that's 100 sleepers and were ok but not too special one batch of 350 came from relaying the main line at Leominster Hereford probably previously reload in the 1950-60 period . A similar amount came from severnside as part of a joint deal to lift 20 track panels that had been originally installed in the mid 1950's. They cost only the transport to move them From Avon mouth to WB
So now your looking at a few in various places being replaced but they are like 75 years old on average .
The reason the L&B is laid with pandrol clips is so that track maintenance & spot sleepering rails can be quickly removed and refitted there was a madness in the plan of 2002. ! Doug Hill and I shared the same objectives investment if we could afford it to keep costs to a minimum in future
TheEngineer

 

This recent post on YouTube may be of interest to L&B fans - "flying" the route from Barnstaple to Lynton and seeing which parts of the former line are secured for the future railway. 5.4k views in a week, so it has generated a fair bit of interest:

 

Ghost stated that as the 762 club had paid for Lyn, it didn't cost "the railway" anything.
The point I was trying to make was that to many of us, the 762 fund was just one face of "the railway". And £500 given to one particular fund within the project is £500 that is definitely not available for some other fund. One would have to find another, additional, £500.
Therefore the 762 club's gain of £500 is an overall gain of £500 to the whole railway project, but it is at the cost of the rest of the railway, in as much as the money and goodwill have been spent.
Which is not an assumption. I am talking about my money, and how I spend it.

 

There is another way to look at this.

The 762 Club built a locomotive which is now in use on the railway. It is in the process of building two MWs and the impression that I gain is that eventually it will want to build a further two.

Now, I would dearly like to see the railway have its 'own' MW operating on the railway alongside Lyn. But I think it fair to ask the question "for the foreseable future, does the railway actually need 2, 3 or 4 MWs?" If the answer is 'no - or at least, not yet' then could the money not be put to better use helping the railway to expand? On the other hand, it could be argued of course that an expanded railway will need more locos in due course of time and building them later will inevitably cost more.

Open for discussion

 

'The money'

People donated because they wanted a new build MW.
They did not give money to the operating company with 'here, do what you want with this'.

'The money' easily redirectable seems to crop up quite often. ' Why did the KESR start up, when 'that money' could have gone to the Bluebell?'

I gave money to 76077, and I also supported the viaduct appeal. It's my money, not ' the money '.

 

At the time when the new Lyn project was mooted, I might have given just as much money to the L&B Trust instead- I couldn't afford to commit to being a covenant donor- because there seemed to be progress being made on all fronts. I thought a signature locomotive was a good project to pursue, because the railway seemed on the point of going somewhere, and when it got there, if the aim is to re-create the original L&B, then those Manning-Wardles and the Baldwin are the essential and unique face of the railway. The L&B was not operated by a handful of ex-industrial tanks.

I was personally more in favour of a Manning-Wardle rep. Not because I prefer them, I don't, but because they are absolutely the type associated with, uniquely and exclusively with, the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway. Their unique appearance says "L&B". A photo of Lyn might well be Lyn, or it might be another, very similar, Baldwin.
Everyone pointed out that there is already the Evans/Lyd sort of replica on the Festiniog, so why replicate the type.
I do love a Baldwin, though. And Lyn is signature enough for me, so I went with it.
I am not now supporting the 762 project to build the M-Ws. This is merely because in the intervening years I have lost confidence in those running the L&B project and their ability to actually make progress.
The line now has far more locomotive than it needs, and I have a sense that the award of Lyn to the Woody Bay line is almost an endorsement of that recreated piece of the route over any other. I would argue that it might be better to start restoring a longer section of the route elsewhere, where there might be less opposition. But unless those in charge are willing to consider letting Lyn and the restored L&B stock move to a different location, it will be very difficult for any proposed route restoration project to be taken seriously.
As long as the L&B project remains trapped on the landlocked Woody Bay-Killington Lane section, they don't need the locomotives that they have, never mind another 2 or more new builds.
In the meantime, I'd rather support restoration of one or two of the more viable Rampton locomotives. There are several lines which could give a worthwhile home to them, and benefit from having something a bit more unusual to offer the visitor