Barnstaple Station - awards, improvements, facilities and connections

[whole diary]

[devonian]

For anyone living in Barnstaple or who knows it better than I do...

What are the chances of me making a 2030 bus departure from Belle Meadow from a train that is due to arrive at 2010? What happens if the train is late?

Thanks

[Feckham]

Hi

Bus departing for where exactly? ie does it then also pass the train station on its way from Belle Meadow.

What is the final destination?

So many combinations, before can comment on more

Fecks

[TerminalJunkie]

I presume you're trying to get the 308 to Croyde? If the train's on time you should have no problem - it takes me 13 minutes to walk, and I tend to dawdle on the Longbridge.

If you miss it there's a 2110 Service 3 to Braunton, and you should be able to book a taxi from the George Hotel.

[devonian]

Yeah - I'm heading for Croyde (well, Putsborough to be precise - but that's a walk!).

THanks for the info!

[RichieG]

Haven't been to Barnstaple station for a while (last time I was at Barnstaple itself it was a training thing at the college...) but was asked this by a work colleague this morning.

She noticed that the old second platform has a white line painted at the edge, and wondered if I knew a reason why.

Unfortunately, I do not - and as I said, haven't been to BNP^▸ (Barnstaple station (in the context of the railways)) (as an aside, unfortunate station code... do the trains there lean to the right?) for a while so don't know what the actual situation with the white line is. I assume it's to mark the edge of the platform but anybody know what the reason why this line has been painted on here?

[Mookiemoo]

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF8&q=barnstaple&fb=1&ei=F16ES_DBHKWQjAfWt5GWCg&ved=0CBUQpQY&hl=en&view=map&geocode=FYZtCwMdjBPC_w&split=0&iwloc=A&sa=X

Looking at it, unless its been painted recently - just looks like a copy of the main platforms white line

Although I have never been CLOSE to barstaple so I comment on how out of date the aerials are!

[RichardB]

The second platform is being adopted by the Tarka^▸ (Branch line from Barnstaple to Exeter) Rail Association and the white line has been repainted purely as a small safety measure.

[RailCornwall]

Very old Google Maps pics, not a sign of the Barnstaple Bypass in construction, let alone open. It opened in May 2007.

[TerminalJunkie]

Looking at it, unless its been painted recently - just looks like a copy of the main platforms white line

I wouldn't rely on Google Maps for that sort of detail - it doesn't even show the bridge that opened in May 2007!

[grahame]

Google maps of our home street show the satellite image as of 6th June 2006 (+- 2 days)

Off topic suggestion - have a look at Calstock viaduct - the shadows are beautiful

[Mookiemoo]

Mine have been updated as well - now shows the koi pond

[The SprinterMeister]

There are no plans that I am aware of to reinstate track onto the second platform. Now if you were going to run decent length locohauleds down there you would have to dig up some of that lovely new car park in order to reinstate the headshunt and run round via the former down platform that was removed circa 1991, possibly using redundant assets from Lapford. Only problem is that the line speed for locohauleds is 30mph throughout due to condition of track and various underline river bridges en route. It's a nice thought though........  

[RichieG]

So it's an 'elf n safe tea measure then is it? Seems rather pointless but at least it explains it! I know that there aren't any plans to reinstate the second platform - apart from anything else, there is little point in having a two-line terminus on a line that's mostly one track.

It would be nice to run some loco hauled trains up the Barnstaple branch... or at least the Barnstaple to Paddington HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) promised then subsequently seemed to forget when they got the franchise giving us Pacers instead :p (having said that, I know that the reason why they haven't is due to the line quality in some places up there and that there is weight restrictions on the line... still a nice thought though!)

(As it happens, I did think of a plan for the Barnstaple line a while ago that will never ever come to fruition in a million millenia... that is to reinstate the second track along its whole length - in a lot of places the basic infrastructure is still there but would need repair - but run the two tracks as separate lines. One to be an 'express' service with London (and oop north) trains on it, stopping only at Barnstaple, possibly Eggesford (I'm not sure if the 'legal' reason for Eggesford station's existence is still in place but it wouldn't surprise me if it is) and Crediton (then onto Exeter and beyond) and the other line the slow line to run pretty much as the branch does at the moment. Nice idea, completely implausible and impractical!)

[RichardB]

Richie, 

As a close watcher of the scene, I can tell you FGW^▸ (First Great Western) never promised Barnstaple - Paddington HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)).  If Wessex Trains had been allowed to absorb the Waterloo - Exeter line, they promised Waterloo - Barnstaple Cl 159s, but it was decided to go for the franchise we have today instead. 

Removing the Waterloo - Exeter line from South West Trains was the sticking point.  That proposal was very unpopular along that route.

The white line on Platform 2 is a small, pretty inexpensive safety measure.  It's not "elf n safe tea" gone mad"!  Some hope that Platform 2 may be back in use one day.  Who knows, one day they might be right.

Richard Burningham
Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership

[TerminalJunkie]

reinstate the second track along its whole length

You can't 'reinstate' something that never existed - although all the bridges along the line were built for double track it was mostly single track - the only doubled sections were between Barnstaple and Umberleigh, and from Coleford Junction to Cowley Bridge.