Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

Times have, of course, moved on - but not in all areas! The VoR with wealthy support is not the same as the L&B in that respect, but another important point of difference is that the VoR never closed and had naturally made the transition to being a tourist line, and people had come to realise its value as such from an early stage. I don't think that, in its operating days, the L&B ever really made that transition and hence it is not really remembered and appreciated for its tourist potential - the potential is only now being recognised and realised, and its influence as such is, in reality, very limited. Hopefully, as it grows and develops, that potential will be far more widely recognised and will become more exploitable, but at the moment its proponents haven't really generated the momentum necessary to make it more compelling, especially to some of the local population.

 

I think you have also hit on a point which many within the L&BR family have yet to acknowledge, and that is the difference between the underlying argument of commercial development versus authenticity, which would not be new to anyone else who has volunteered over the years at a railway.

As I have said before, I don't have a problem with the L&BR being authentic, but I do think it needs to be better run along commercial lines, and sometimes these viewpoints will clash.

One of the weaknesses of the railway is that it is still seen by some in North Devon as a toy for the boys and old men playing trains at weekends. That said, I need to make it quite clear that I do appreciate the amount of hard work put in by all the volunteers and the staff, but part of the problem, I think, is the image which has been projected in the past mainly by the then management team.

Sure, in hindsight it is very easy to be critical, but we are where we are due to that image which is still seen by many people around Devon and to a certain extent by some on this very forum.

A book which I have only just obtained has the title 'Holding the line' Preserving the Kent and East Sussex Railway by Nick Pallant, and what I have read so far, you could so easily substitute the L&BRT for the K&ESR. So I feel there is nothing new in the railway heritage world (It's well worth the £15.00).

 

AIUI the NYMR is planning to use rapeseed oil as a fuel which is widely grown in the UK, it would also seem that their oil conversion is designed to run on a range of oil fuels, like it or not these alternatives to coal must be explored alongside modern eco coal fuel