Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

The ruston at lynton station is effectively scrap. The cylinder block is cracked from frost damage and the body work has collapsed. As it has Norden history an offer was made to purchase it some years ago but the owner was not interested (which is fair enough).

 

I agree with Railwest - while Bratton had 7 levers, Chelfham, Blackmoor and Wooda Bay had only had 5 levers, and the photograph of the south end of Bridge 36 in the middle of the horseshoe curve north of Bratton that I mentioned (which I hope will appear in print within a book in the not too distant future) has a signal wire coming southwards carried on sticks about a foot high.

Col. Yorke uses the phrase ‘to be abolished’ and ‘The Company are desirous of abolishing’ in relation to distant signals (in the second instance at Bratton), once in the file dated 23 August 1898 and also in his re-inspection report of 17 September. In the latter he recommends no objection be raised ‘as there is a good view of the home signals long before they are reached’.

It has been suggested in recent years that the new starting signals at Bratton would have used the posts of the distant signals, but I have never come across any evidence that they were in fact abolished or retained as fixed signals. The compilers of the LSWR chain survey in August 1922 didn’t bother with signals. All that can be said for certain is that only the two homes and two starting signals are mentioned in a survey of SR Stations of c1927/28. They had definitely gone by 1935 (see the photograph on p22 of L & B Journey 2nd and 3rd editions)

I am not properly educated in signalling matters, but Railwest says a principle that came later was that if the home was off then the distant was pulled off too. The requirements of the BoT for the opening of railways 1885, 1892 and 1898 versions all say at Clause 7 : ‘A distant signal must not be capable of being lowered unless the home and starting signals in advance of it have been lowered.’ This BoT requirement is confirmed as being current in an article in ‘The Railway Engineer’ for March 1896. Or am I barking up the wrong tree ? Railwest could put me right if I am wrong.

 

I think @RailWest actually was saying the opposite - the original use of distant signals was that they were a repeater for the home, i.e. if the home was off, the distant was off; but they later came to be used in the way you quote, i.e. you could only pull a distant off if all the stop signals in advance controlled from the same box were off. In a simple situation with a station with home and starting signals, that means both have to be cleared before the distant can be cleared. In the context of the L&B which was new in 1898, that must mean that if the distants were worked at all, they must have been interlocked with all of the stop signals in advance.

Tom

 

Thank you Tom. I knew I made the right decision being a lion tamer rather than a signalling engineer.

 

Thanks Harold. Hopefully in years to come it might still prove popular as a stopping off point for a cuppa and a walk through the woods.

Keith

 

Do you have a hat that lights up and says Lion Tamer on it?

 

No, but we are thinking of an inflatable Father Christmas or three in the front garden and Santa's sleigh and Reindeer on the roof with Blackpool-style fairy lights as we think the neighbours would enjoy them. Just a problem with getting enough electricity laid on for the Jingle Bells sound system.

 

Appears that planning has been approved for the new team room.

 

Your neighbour isn't a Mr. Grob, by any chance?
Pat

 

Hush - we're not allowed to even breathe the name, nor even a Mr C. Purchase, it seems

 

The wooden replacement of the tea room marquee has been approved. For all the planning documents, see https://planning.agileapplications.co.uk/exmoor/application-details/21788

 

Just as well the design looks nothing like a conservatory. I don't think that would have stood a cat's chance, do you?

 

You are right, Tom

 

One small problem.....

If the plans are to be believed, the wall of the new building facing the platform will be probably about a foot or so behind the wall of the signal-box. So how are the S&T going to get access into the rear doors of the box in order to maintain the locking? More importantly, it will restrict/prevent the ability to use existing space behind the box to install the electric locks and circuit controllers etc which will be necessary for Phase 2A operations. It would /appear/ that no-one on the S&T side was consulted before this proposal was submitted :-( Nor does the site plan show the concrete instrument hut adjacent to the SB, right next to the proposed access from the platform, where any 'work in progress' will conflict with customer footfall.

 

I gave up the idea of the former 'cos I couldn't face the bit about putting one's head in their mouth - I mean, have you smelt their breath, their dental hygiene regime must be non-existent

 

Chris, management is aware of these issues and they will be dealt with prior to the construction of the new building.

 

Yes, they are aware now, as we have been in discussion with them about since I wrote that, but it would have caused less concern had it been done before the application was submitted. Such situations can give an unfortunate impression of lack of internal co-ordination :-(

 

Stuff happens, but using the existing building footprint much simplifies the planning application, and I'm sure it can be resolved. For example, the section of wall immediately behind the Signal Cabin could be made as a hidden doorway/lift-out panel, and the counter area could be built on a traverser so it can be slid out of the way as and when required.

 

Sounds clever, but.....in reality cafe service would have to stop every time any signalling maintenance was required, I doubt the catering staff would look kindly on oily bits of metal being moved in/out of the food area, and there is still the need for extra space behind the box for all the add-on electrical gubbins. I believe it is being investigated even as we speak.....

 

Simplicity?


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