Remembering the branch lines of the past, one station at a time.
With over 50 years experience in the film business dealing with Super & Standard 8mm, 9.5mm, and 16mm, we understand how to treat old films. We have films dated from 1898 with the original quality still in excellent condition. We have also established ourselves as one of the South West’s leading documentary producers, bringing exclusive images of historical Plymouth and the steam railways of Devon and Cornwall area to the small screen.
The line from Barnstaple to Ilfracombe should never have been closed an should be reopened to allow the many tourists who visit Britain the option to travel from London via Exeter to Ilfracombe and give North Devon a major economic boost. Ilfracombe needs access to Exeter and beyond by rail.
Trains ran over the line twice after its closure, although only for B.R. engineers to inspect the track & infrastructure. These were in 1973 and 1975. The locals thought the 1975 engineers' train might have been a pre-curser to a re-opening of the line as a whole, but it wasn't to be. Such a pity!
Unfortunately politicians couldn’t see (or chose to ignore) the effects of mass car ownership. It’s a lovely area, but, traffic is a problem in summer. As with a lot of other things, if it don’t make money close it, forget about the other benefits. If the GCR hadn’t closed maybe we wouldn’t now have the HS2 fiasco. I bet all buses are subsidised in the area
It's heart-breaking watching this. I can just remember a family holiday to Ilfracombe in 1968. I'm pretty sure it was a loco hauled train with a Warship.
Just for interest, before dr Richard Beeching became chairman of BR he was chairman of ICI which at the time was involved in the manufacturer of fabric for motor car seats 😊
@AarchiveRailways it's also a good point off interest to note that Dr Beeching was against the axing of the main Blackpool South Station in the 60s and more in favour of the closure of blackpool north but his decision for some reason was overturned. Blackpool South today is little more than a single track holt.. Best of luck with your research 👍
I went on holiday to Braunton with my Mother and Father in the early 70s . I went for a walk with my father one evening and we found Braunton station exactly as it was in this film except with no track !! The signals still had their arms , the gates and the box were still there !! I climbed over the fence and walked on the platforms . I thought I remembered an island platform ? Do I remember a waiting shelter with lots of glass windows and a Newspaper stand ? There were a few broken windows for sure !!
The heart was ripped out of the UK by way of the demise of the railways. Tracks were laid in the 1800's at then navvies rates. Why disused tracks were not mothballed is beyond belief. That would have created work for convicts or any out of work types wanting extra money but no built motorways instead and today's gridlock is as a result of government stupidity. Trucks are end to end on highways instead of the old system of railheads and local deliveries by truck. RIP UK it lost the plot years ago.
Thanks for bringing this film of the Princetown Railway. 👍It brings back fond memories of my childhood. Greetings from the Basel regiion of Switzerland.
As a 10 year old we took our first holiday to Croyde Bay in 1969 and remember having to cross the level crossing at Braunton and seeing a train on it once.
It was already long shut by the time I was a child in Princetown but we all knew about it, stories were told and we walked along it as far as we were allowed before tea time.
I used to live on that line! My parents were in the RAF, and from 1988-91 we lived at, what was then, RAF Chivenor, and I went to school in Braunton. Nice to see what it used to look like!
I find this narrator's accent very reassuring in an old fashioned way. It's surprisingly different to a modern Devon accent with certain words and grammar not used now.
How sad i used to go to Ilfracombe when I was a kid in the early 70s the branch line closed in 1970 shocking should still be open i hope they manage to open part of the line up again good luck 🍀🤞
This line should never have closed. The first time we went to Ilfracombe on holiday we got off the train at Exeter, caught a train to Barnstaple, thinking a train would take us to Ilfracombe, surely its a popular seaside holiday destination. No there was no trains the line had closed years earlier, so we had to get a taxi, which was quite a long drive & expensive. It was very tiring coming from Yorkshire. To be honest i dont see why there is no train from Exeter direct to Ilfracombe calling at Barnstaple. Ilfracombe is a nice holiday destination but yo get there by public transport is very tiring & i think puts people off from going there. We need more tracks open!
Unfortunately people don't go on holiday to places like Ilfracombe... they go to Spain, or Greece... and a line like this would never fill up a DMU in anything but the rush hour and the summer. It's ironic that back in the 1960's, everyone was moving to the 'freedom' of car travel... and now that freedom results in being stuck in traffic congestion! Today routes like this might see a resurgence... but for this precise line, the economics wouldn't be worth it because of the cost of building a new bridge over the river at Barnstaple. An extension from Barnstaple to Bideford might be feasible though.
@Cliffjumper24 well said, I used to love a drive down to Devon from Liverpool and leave about 3am to avoid the traffic but it still gets very busy on the M5 these days so I tend to stay local to avoid all the traffic congestion.
Brilliant. I was 15 in 1969 and fascinated by all these branch lines, Liskeard to Looe, Maiden Newton to Bridport, Par to Newquay. I remember the atmosphere well and also how much I loved it.
Brilliant look at the Tarka Line - thanks for sharing! I am a regular user from Umberleigh to EXD so it was great to see how much, and how little has changed in the last 50 years. The line is now so busy they are talking about dualling it again and adding more passing loops. Sadly I dont think that will happen until the junction (and road bridge) at Cowley are improved.
Seen most of this before but a great film. After Western Region's takeover it was a pity that singling the line, closing two or three signal boxes and destaffing stations (I think in 1967) didn't generate enough savings to make it viable - no doubt because of (five?) level crossings that still needed to be staffed for any trains to run. Interesting parallel with the Newquay branch where road layouts made level crossings suitable for conversion to automatic open type, which wasn't the case here.
This is why Dr Beeching truly was a horrible person, only caring about money and not the experience for passengers. This video makes me depressed watching it. Living in Barnstaple, it makes me sad to think there was originally 2 branches from a 3 platform station, not a sad terminus with 1 platform
As if it needs to be restated: Beeching was hired to study the railway's costs and then make RECOMMENDATIONS. All decisions arising from them were not his to make. BR had already shut thousands of route miles before Beeching started his job and completing his (in)famous Report. Having set up a closures consultation process, the government also set up 'grant aid' support to BR for 'unrenumerative' passenger services. As the film shows, there was very little revenue from Ilfracombe except during peak summer weeks and government couldn't justify further grant aid. Whether government, local councils or BR did enough to promote the line is another matter.
Transport minister in the then Tory Government, Ernest Marples had interests in the new Motorways and roads being constructed at the time.....He eventually fled to Europe on Tax evasion crimes....make of that what you will....
Nonsense. Beeching did what he was asked to do, and was horrified by the financial mess he found. He wasn't "horrible", he was asked to identify where BR's absolutely massive losses were coming from. He did a pretty good job of that.
You're joking! I live near Eggesford, the train line's thriving, it pays for itself from what I've seen, the Exeter to Okehampton line had over half a million passengers in the 3 years it's returned. Now they're trying to bring back the Bideford and Braunton extensions, good for them, I'm originally from Bideford, I think the trip to Barny would be a lot quicker, travelled many times on the Tarka line, my favourite. My son works for Rose removals at Lapford when not studying engineering at Plymouth, the old Ambrosia depot, they're very busy. I worked beside Crediton station last year, that's busy, although the yards have gone the animal feed mills are still going, and there are still sweet factories in Crediton, Bristows, E and J etc, even a cake and pie manufacturer. My daughter worked at the Fox and Hounds Eggesford until 4 years ago, I preferred the older building which they demolished in the 80s, it was old,worn but had character
Not just Ilfracombe but Mablethorpe, Yarmouth South Town, Hunstanton, Bridport, Elie all discarded by Castle in favour of poorly marketed commuter branch lines.
What a wonderful era captured perfectly in this archive film. Thanks to the original cameraman/woman for having the foresight to produce the film and to you for taking the time and trouble to research, edit and post such a simply amazing video. Looked a stunning and amazing railroad.
Another lovely film and a sad loss of what must have been a wonderful line. How popular that would be now if it had survived, like most of the Cornish branches are these days.
Great video of something that should still be with us 😢 so just missed the line being open. We drove to llfracombe this year and the traffic was awful and parking war even worse 🙄
Thats the reason I don't drive from Liverpool to Devon any more the roads are just to busy and congested so I just stay local and avoid all the stress.
Use it or lose it. If the locals had patronised the line especially in the winter months instead of going everywhere in their shiny new cars, the line might still be open today.
Good to see the remnants of the old city. A shame that there is little footage of it before the blitz. I was at Plymouth Poly now Uni, in the late 70s and so a lot of the rebuilding was complete by then. Our most favourite haunts were the Black Swan at Cremyle & the Minerva at Sutton Harbour. Last time I was in the city was to install lifts in the new University buildings. Sadly the Black Swan is no more and the area is barely recognizable but cheeringly Sutton Harbour was the same and the Wood's rum in the Minerva just as good.
We have a video, Plymouth's Rising 20s, that has some pre-war footage. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7PUYoeoDSww.htmlsi=0lLtdGoZ_EFUmXAR
