Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

I’m part of a church that meet in a converted warehouse in a business park. When we first bought building there was a high level of local opposition - the chair of the Business Park association stood up at the planning meeting to speak against us and say how bad we’d be for the area.

As a church we’ve tried hard to be a great presence for the community from the start - from basic stuff like encouraging our people not to park like muppets, to supporting local charities, and providing things the area needs (great coffee shop, space for blood donors, community spaces, meeting rooms for local business). A few years back our building manager got invited to the Business Park annual dinner to receive an award, the same association chair who’d spoken up against us stood up to publicly apologise and say we’re the best thing to ever happen to the business park.

Not saying that to blow our trumpet - just to say that by being good neighbours, engaging constructively with concerns rather than blustering in and imposing things on everybody else, it’s sometimes possible for everybody to win! That might not be the case in Devon of course, but I really hope the L&B invest as much time in listening to locals as they do talking…


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Welcome to page 800 !! No doubt this will run and run.....

 

https://eastbroadtop.com/?gad_sourc...42v-CeMnmNjrCpHzFdCK86X2qW4xsBEIaAlkQEALw_wcB

Enjoy!

 

If we change "all" in the quoted text to "many" it could be perfectly true. There are probably relatively few NIMBYs and they might eventually be outvoted.

 

If you are successful enough to manage to build an extension, but have no more engines than today, then you can be certain that one will be available to hire from somewhere. There are a few people restoring 2' gauge engines who will want somewhere to run them, and a few other places that could spare one for a season. And even if that fails, you just run with one less loco and run diesel on washout days. It's really not that much of a problem. If you were Corris and building to 2'3" gauge, the situation would be different. But you're not.

Consider also the £Ms raised for the GCR's "gap" project, versus the relatively modest sums raised by the GCR 567 project which is going on in parallel. Extensions inspire a much wider base of support than a niche loco project, however nice it may be. (I'm sure there are similar examples elsewhere.)

 

Indeed there are: at WHR Ltd, at Southwold Railway Trust, and at the Halesworth to Southwold Narrow Gauge Railway CIO, we have had much more support for extensions/trackbed purchase than for anything else, including prestige locos James

 

I’m guessing that the FR would never part with lyd, and the question has already been broached with them, sometime in the past.

 

I thought Gordon was the prestige loco; James was just a rather vain mixed traffic job.

Tom (with apologies!)

 

To get the facts correct, the LYD project was first offered to the L&BR Association, but at the time, there wasn't a charitable body to take advantage of gift aid, etc So it moved to the FR, where it was going to be built. Which made a lot of sense.

While the FR trust owns LYD, it is highly unlikely that they or the FR Society members who contributed money to the project would want to see it leave, as I believe she has become a very useful loco for them. I would follow this up with, as the 762 club is building two MW. Why would the L&BR Trust need her?

That said, she does get down to Devon now and then and is a most welcome guest at the Woody Bay September galas, mainly.

As for the 762 club locos, these are based on what has been learned from LYD, and somewhere they are classified as mk4s (EXE, TAW & YEO mk1), LEW mk2, LYD mk3, and the new 762 club locos mk4.

 

Let me direct you to an unofficial, slightly out of date (it doesn't measure current operable track for instance, doesn't have up to date pictures in places, etc) but extremely informative site for extra info. This covers everything you'd even wish to know about the EBT, and then some. https://oldeastie.com/

It can depend on the project, there's some classes that will get more attention than others. The P2 has the kind of funding it does not just because of the track record of the A1 trust but because it's of a unique design that has a complicated, and incomplete history with remaining questions of "what if" (the exact same reason as to why the PRR T1 here in the states is the big New Build project). It can be difficult to attach emotion to a project for something that doesn't have a huge reputation or following. I suspect that's a big reason as to why there aren't many projects that have gotten very far in having new locomotives that have a stronger legacy in the pre grouping era as opposed to later years.

As for extensions or new sections of track, it's all about showing people that you have a goal and a means to reach it, and it's plainly visible, unlike a steam locomotive project where so much is also focused on smaller, but important projects. Everything you do, people can see and notice a difference. I can see "look what they're doing now", I can ask "how far did you get today", "what's the goal for the week/month/year" and probably get an answer.

 

Simply changing location does not change a person's mind or attitude, or make them a local.
Tourism has been vital for the Exmoor economy since about 1870- and local people know and understand this.
Just being a twonk from London and buying a gaff does not make someone a local- especially if their London wealth means they are isolated from the realities of life for the local community, nor recognise that one person 'playing trains' is no more selfish than another playing lord or lady of the manor

 

We have the same issue here in Cumbria, best one was a lady from London moving next to a working farm then making numerous complaints about the smell and the noise....

 

A few years ago, I knew someone who moved to Devon from London, and he was there for a very long time, but he was always known as an outsider. After twenty years, he also noticed that many people from around the country also moved to Lynton to take over B&Bs, and the average time they stayed there was about 7 to 8 years.

As much as I love Devon, I don't think people moving into the area realise what the remoteness and isolation mean. If you are from a Town, then I would suggest looking at somewhere like Barnstaple/ Bideford to move to. At least you have most of the facilities you would have if you came from London, Bristol or any other large town/city, for that matter

 

Where I lived in the wilds of Derbyshire, the rule of thumb and /or ironic joke was that you couldn’t regard yourself as a local until you’d lived there for 25 years

 

That was quick

 

The funny thing was, at the last time of looking at the general population of Lynton (It was some time ago now), there were more outsiders than locals

 

And ever more so, the further west you go..I wonder how many genuine Cornish are still left on their home turf?

 

Now maybe I should move there... one of my ancestors was mayor of Bodmin... about 500 years ago! Beat that, locals...

 

Yes, at one time, many years ago, I used to work with two guys from the West Country, both contract Electricians, one used to work in the Cornish mines before they closed, and the other was from Appledore.

We were all working for a company refurbishing blocks of flats in, of all places, Chelsea and Kilburn, London. I hadn't long been out of my apprenticeship when I got to know about this job, great times, it was the only job I ever had that was paid in cash and beer at Friday lunchtimes by the Irish site agent.

 

My great nephews live in Cornwall, were born in Cornwall, their Mum is Cornish (from many generations) their Dad has lived in Cornwall for nearly 40 years (since he was 5) but they don't consider themselves Cornish....