Lynton and Barnstape Railway Members and Friends

Thanks to our new steam railways of Britain guide we discovered that we were not that far from the Parracombe Peoples Railway. The children were getting fractious and my wife was needing the loo and a cream tea (in that order).

"Let's go there." I said

My wife nodded weakly as Jeremy again 'accidentally' hit Louise.

The railway took some time to find but eventually we noticed a hand painted scrap of cardboard hanging on a farm gate some distance from the village. You would have thought the gate would be left open. My wife got out of the car and stepping through mud and a few cow pats finally wrestled the gate open. We drove in. There was a rough muddy track disappearing over the hill in the field so we elected to try that. Luckily I am quite good at driving cars in muddy conditions unlike the three cars we passed who were well and truely bogged down and we eventually arrived at a small shed.

Parracombe Peoples Railway was painted on the rough wood. We opened the door to find a man with his feet up on a table reading the 'Sport. He looked up.

"What do you want?"
"Are the rains running?" I asked
"Of course they boody are.Can't you read?" he said
"We would like two adults and two children please"

After some time, as the man continued to drool over a girly photo in the 'Sport he got up and wrote something on a postit and passed it to me.

"That'll be £12 mate" he said.
"Where are the toilets please? my wife asked.
"Ladies go behind this shed but don't crouch too low because of the nettles and men go where they like. The train is down there" He vaguely waved in the direction of the hedge..

We left the car on a slightly drier bit of field and pushed through the undergrowth and eventually found a steam engine attached to some coal wagons hiding in the long grass. There were three other passengers who were trying to clear a path to the wagons. The engine driver was passing a mug around to those who wanted it with tea made from injector water.

"Don't worry about catching anything. The boiler treatment kills all known bugs".

The engine was nothing like I had ever seen before. In fact, one could describe it as a locomotive Frankenstein. The huge firebox towered over a small chassis fitted with a rusty boiler.

"Isn't the firebox rather large?" I asked
"Bloody right it is. We dynamited it off an engine on the Severn Valley Railway when they weren't looking" replied the driver, who bent down exposing a large expanse of builder's bum.
"Is this railway safe to ride on?" I asked.
"Course it bloody is. I have just fitted brand new 1:8 switch blades. Now get on with it and clear that bit of track with those sickles and we can get off"

It was then that we made the break for it. My trip along the mud was the envy of all rally drivers and my wife started humming 'we've got to get out of this place' by the Animals. As luck would have it, a few miles down the road we found a darling little station called Woody Bay. The toilets were civilised, the cream tea perfect followed by an excellent if short ride on the train. The kids even found their own little train running around the grounds. In the nick of time, the day was saved.

 

To start with I was not stressing over the use of Tarmac as a platform material, it is probably one of the finest platform surfacing materials known to man!! I was merely using it as an example of the rebuilding of the WHR that may not have had any volunteer input, either physical or financial. I`m sure the Black Hand Gang and Rest of the World Gang are rightly proud of their track laying feets and no one will ever take those acheivements away from them.
I was merely backing The Engineer (probably not a good move!!) on the way some railways see the only solution to a financial problem is to open up the directory of grant giving bodies and start form filling....

 

I think that every railway project must make its own decisions. Certainly, I am no fan of amateur tarmac laying though, as I have suffered it several times on mobility scooters.

I think you have to realise that in the case of the WHR, there was huge pressure to complete the line as this was part of planning and grant requirements.

I have known Beddgelert station for a very long time and I agree, there is no resemblance to the original but then again, the original railway had virtually no traffic!

Sometimes, the 'charm' of wayward railways is best recaptured in model form as such lines are usually not ideal to fulfil modern day requirements. Hence my little story!
best

 

This thread has gone off topic.

Can we please return to topic.

Some people have made reasonable debate about the lynton & Barnstaple, that's fair the rest of the posts are irrelivant.

If your a member and want to make some usefull observation about what should happen next to help it get back on track thanks

 

Actually, the original topic was:

- so nothing to do with what should or shouldn't happen next!

For the record, I would consider myself to be a passionate friend and supporter of the L&B, a member of the Trust (for the past 20 years - originally the L&BR Association), a CIC shareholder and an EA shareholder.

My primary interest is in the L&BR Project, and in seeing it progress as far and as fast as possible within the financial and other constraints that surround it.

Distance, finance and health issues prevent me from taking as active a part as I would like, but I do help out with the website and various other online fora and discussions associated with the railway. I model the L&B a bit too.
​

 

Martyn,

I do apologise for being one of those who was off topic.

As yet I am not a member of the trust, although I do a lot of PR for the L&B when exhibiting my L&B models. I also run the modelling site for the L&B. I generally have avoided being involved in Societies etc. due to the eternal infighting which seems to be endemic. The direction taken by this thread could be taken as a typical example. I may change my mind, though with regards to the L&B.

As an older person, I well recognise that the rebuilding of this line will continue for decades, well past my demise and it is the next generation that will need to be motivated. I actually believe that L&B modelling does contribute here as many volunteers begin with this, I am sure.

For me, it is already exciting that a small section of the line is open and has been developed to a standard expected of better tourist attractions. The shortfall, for me, at present is the line length which in my mind should be at about 3 miles minimum.

There is also an issue, I understand, with volunteer accommodation which may need to be addressed.

I am sure that the current economic downturn will delay some projects, but with our boom and bust politicians, a boom will come along again. Right now, I think the priority is to establish the L&B as a solid contributer to the North Devon economy and then I am sure that funds will be forthcoming in the end.

With so many owners of the trackbed involved, it is inevitable that the rebuild will take a great deal of time and the challenge will be to maintain interest until more exciting developments can take place. The WHR traffic figures can do nothing but help promote the L&B cause where there is no other similar attraction for very many miles.

Probably, the Leek and Manifold railway might have been an easier nut to crack but that is another story.

 

No need to apologise, Lynton&Barnstaple, I was just reminding TheEngineer that the thread has been off-topic for quite some time!

The L&B has its fair share of unique challenges (such as the multiple land ownership), as well as many that are similar to those encountered by other heritage lines and similar enterprises. Whilst it does need a solid engineering base, it is also important that, among other things, there is a strong, competent, and dedicated management team, a high level of exposure to and acceptance within the heritage sector, the broad support of the local community, the financial resources to pay for it, and the support & involvement of the membership. In all of these, the L&B has some way to go, but it does seem to me to be progressing in all those areas, and long may that continue!

Now, as for the Leek & Manifold, ... (but that would be off-topic!)

With a little compromise on all sides, and a willingness to discuss the issues, the internicene difficulties that seem to infect so many projects like the L&B could be resolved, and a lot more could be achieved more quickly, but in the meantime, the Project is moving slowly in the right direction, and I wish it - and all those involved - my very best wishes for a successful future.

 

Me too.

 

Most of this thread seems to have been removed. Anybody know why?

 

The posts removed did not bring any value to the thread.

 

You are so wrong. Much of what Andy (TheEngineer) was saying is unfortunatly true. But as per usual you give preference to the many non-members who haven't got a clue as to the true situation at the L&B.

Chris (L&B member and another of the many ex-volunteers at Woody Bay)

 

It's not just the contents of what he was posting, it was the way this member was posting it.
We have been talking about this issue between the staff.

 

L&B Member or not, Well-wisher or just interested, you will rue the day you were not here in North Devon for Sept 25/26/27th!
(Did not somebody famous say something like that once, long ago?)
LYD is coming, (bar "accidents"), it will be a great show and we need YOU to come to make it all complete!
Start planning your visit now, book B&B in Lynton, Combe Martin, Ilfracombe or even Barnstaple, soonest!

See you in the Marquee!

Martin (Not Martyn, just a Volunteer who lives nearby and can get to Woody Bay in 15mins)

 

My girlfriends Mum lives in Tavistock, arranging a weekend (or two, Launceston is pretty close by too) in September!

Lets all put our collective passion of the L&B to positive effect to te project rather then complain for a distance You've got to be in it to win it!!!

 

The weekend will be booked soon but a visit to North Wales is due to happen before that

 

So with EA's thread hitting 5000 read visits earlier today. Has all this reading up on the L&B and EA finding out whats going on, brought any fruit. So has either group or both groups got any more members, or shareholders to help support the aims and objectives.Or is it to be just a watch and judge event.

I note from the circular sent out to members that arived Friday morning, for booking seats behind Lyd that membership is down. Currently 200 have not renewed this year that were due in April this year.Is that in line with NG organisations generaly?

 

trolling .....

 

Any chance of repeating that post in English?

 

...here we go again! How old are you lot?