Getting a Bigger “Byte” into Devon

from the right, approached Park Hall Halt the only stopping place on the branch

Park Hall Halt was opened by the GWR in July 1926 to facilitate the nearby Hospital, though this rather obscure stopping place also served an extensive military establishment in later years.

In the long term, the halt brought extra traffic to the branch with most passenger trains calling although this did bring about a slightly increased journey time over the branch from seven to eight minutes for the two and a halfmile run. Originally the overbridge at Park Hall consisted of a single timber span supported by stone abutments and photographic evidence reveals that this structure was still in use during the 1920s it was rebuilt thereafter with a substantial metal girder span.

In its later years, the halt was staffed and tickets for local stations between Oswestry and Chester were issued form a Bell Punch Machine, worked by a halt keeper. when the halt was unstaffed passengers joining trains would have been booked by the guard who would have supplied any would-be passengers with the necessary Bell Punch Ticket.

The hospital at Park Hall provided a source of extra traffic for the railway during the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s but the Halt really came into its own during the Second World War, when the nearby army camp was reopened for military purposes.

During the war years, the branch carried increasing numbers of soldiers to and from Park Hall, traffic which continued unabated into peacetime when the camp became a training centre for Royal Artillery National Service personnel and ATS recruits, later the camp became a base for the Junior Leaders Regiment.

A wooden wicket gate gave access to the halt by way of a gently-sloping cinder path, which connected the halt to the adjacent road

Continuing our train journey to Oswestry and immediately upon leaving the halt a fixed distance signal for Gobowen was passed, while a short distance beyond the railway ran close to the A483 and outer fringes of Park Hall Camp.

One of the South West’s oldest landmarks has become of the fastest places in the UK for broadband speeds. The historic Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway has been connected to Full Fibre broadband by Openreach. The Victorian railway is the UK’s only fully waterpowered railway and one of just three examples left in the world. It welcomes 400,000 visitors every year. Now, the installation of 21st century digital infrastructure means it can connect digitally with the whole world, providing ultrafast, ultra-reliable connectivity.

The upgrade forms part of Openreach’s investment to build Full Fibre broadband technology to thousands of homes and businesses in 33 “harder-to-reach” cities, towns and villages across the South West - part of a wider commitment to reach 3.2 million premises in the UK’s hardest to serve ‘final third’. When Openreach engineers surveyed Lynton and Lynmouth to plan new network, they realised that, with a bit of collaboration and some engineering know-how, the Cliff Railway could be an added bonus in their connection plans. It means the railway can run more efficiently and can now start to use the latest technology like cashless payments.

Adrian Chamberlain, Clerk of Works for Openreach’s Chief Engineer’s team said: “ Because of their geography, Lynton and Lynmouth have without doubt been the most challenging locations I’ve surveyed in thirty years of being an engineer. Some days I’ve walked 33,000 steps, planning how we’ll bring Full Fibre broadband to the homes and businesses here.

“But it’s places like this that need our infrastructure more than ever. Ashley Clarke, General Manager of the Railway and I discussed how it might be possible to connect the Tourist Information Centre and Railway building at the bottom of the cliff, but the café building at the top was proving problematic. He suggested running the cable between the railway tracks from top to bottom and that’s what we’re doing. It means that, by the time the 2021 tourist season starts, the railway, it’s office and café buildings and the TIC will all be connected to gigabit-capable broadband infrastructure.