Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

We members are still waiting to get a report on the November meeting. Although the CLC is doing a good job of promoting itself, the Trust is almost silent. Progress appears to be glacial.

 

Perhaps said Trustee might decide that 2025 is a good time to stand down anyway?

 

Given that most heritage railways in the country are on borrowed time with their finances does anyone seriously think this project is going anywhere? More miles of railway from nowhere in particular to nowhere at all.

 

The L&B's predicament seems rather like that of the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway. The latter (in one of its incarnations) intended in principle to restore much if not all of the old line, but never got beyond a small local operation. But then Big Brother arrived and got the whole lot done, and friendly relations were eventually established. The L&B has the disadvantage of being in the middle of nowhere rather than on the edge of a town in a touristy area, as well as no Big Brother seeming likely to appear. Even if the associated organisations eventually acquire all the trackbed from the outskirts of Barnstaple to somewhere near Lynton, where could the money come from the lay track and acquire enough rolling stock?

 

I have complex views as to whether and how the CFL extension should be pursued. I'm not going to rehearse them, as they've been mentioned ad nauseam in this thread before.

What I will observe is that the clear desire of L&B supporters, in all of the organisations, is to extend the railway as far as practical. The ructions within the L&BRT, in which I played a small part, were about creating circumstances in which the members at large could engage with the Trustees. I have seen some good signs since then, but communications are sometimes patchy and appear to have gone quiet. It would have been naive to have expected radical changes when the board composition changes were only incremental.

As the next AGM approaches, I shall be looking at how the Trust board are engaging with the membership at large, and hope to see a combination of clarity and pragmatism in what's reported.

 

The parallels are most striking in the ownership of the trackbed. The Welsh Highland was decades ahead in that all the original route to Dinas was in the hands of one owner - the official receiver. There is therefore no reason why after the efforts of Exmoor Associates and Yeo Valley Trust we wont be in the Welsh Highland's position in twenty years (or so's) time, if they continue as they have been, allowing for the possibility that some of the (current) landowners will baulk at selling. The railway has experienced this before - Station Road Lynton was not built when the railway opened as intended partly because of intransigence of at least one landowner (but also because of the cost of a wall and railings), but by 1914 the land had passed down the family to someone who was keen that this and the Lyn Down road (to Hillsford Bridge avoiding Beggars Roost) being achieved. So time can solve these issues. That is why the activities of the 2 organisations just mentioned are so important for this long-term project. It is striking the apparent lack of news of efforts to acquire the missing land north of Blackmoor. Is this because there is little being made - I hope I am wrong about that. Lack of communication again. Maybe at the AGM there ought to be a resolution put forward for the Trust to allow these two organisations to include acquisition of trackbed on the whole railway in their ambit.

 

And how often is the deviation used now? I've been involved with heritage railways for well over fifty years. I can't think of a worse time for operating one ,let alone building new. If we make the leap of faith and assume that money and political will can be found to obtain the planning permissions and build the full scheme from Barnstaple to Lynton why would this business be able to keep it's head above water when the rest are failing?