The legendary Lynton & Barnstaple Railway

Introduction

“The present volume is not intended to complete with the major studies of the L&B with which the line has been blessed, from LT Catchpole’s The Lynton &Barnstaple Railway 1895-1935 – first published in 1936 when the ashes were yet warm and still in print – to the definitive account that has been in gestation for many years. Nor is this the place to seek the technical specifications of locomotives beloved of engineers or the dimensions of rolling stock and station buildings that modellers need. It focuses rather on aspect of L&B story often neglected by railway historians: the impact of the line on those people who dedicated their working lives to its smooth operation and on the wider community it served. It tells in other words the human story.  

This book was first published by the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway Trust in 2010 and has long been out of print. Since then I have been able to undertake much more research and gathered a lot more material about life on the L&B. With the project to rebuild such an iconic railway having been granted planning permission to extend the line, it seems timely to share this knowledge with all those other L&B enthusiasts. In addition to the patient assistance of the staff of the North Devon Record Office and North Devon Athenaeum I am indebted to the researches of Michael Bishop, Paul Gower, Colin Pealling, Steve Phillips and Keith Vingoe. Any mistakes, however are entirely my own. A full apparatus of footnotes to the text is available electronically to interested readers. Tony Nicholson, Lynton, August 2018.“