ndrailusers - Mag14

Issue 14, April 2003

Editorial Owing to difficulties encountered with replacement bus services reaching some stations, particularly Yeoford, during emergencies or protracted engineering works, Wessex Trains is experimenting with new ways of solving the problem. Here, the 1211 Exeter Central-Barnstaple replacement balloon service calls at Newton St Cyres on 5th September 2002.

Picture: Ron Winger NDRUG apologises for the late running of this issue: this is due to a certain amount of necessary reorganisation in the magazine production department.

Our Membership Secretary, Linda Rogers, has recently moved to Torquay. She used to live about a mile from me.

She possessed a computer powerful enough to drive the printer (we both own the same model) flat out, whereas my computer struggled pitifully. Text is not a problem, but photographs and graphics are printed at a rate of several minutes per page, rather than several pages per minute! Linda also owned a scanner necessary for the photographs we print. I did not own a scanner. Since I cannot now pop down the road and enlist her help in the production of the magazine, I have had to invest in a certain amount of new hardware: a new computer and a new scanner. These are now installed and are in use.

Table of Contents Editorial Chairman's Column 2 for 1!

Back to Beeching?

Dr Beeching, Sir Peter Parker and the Crumbling Edges Plus Bus It's Accurate, but Misleading, and Bad News for Bideford Barnstaple-Waterloo: The Holy Grail (continued) It Isn't Always So Expensive Barnstaple Fares and the Covent Garden Syndrome Bishops Tawton Halt?

First Great Western Transport Links An Interesting Diversion A Possible Cause of Irritation The Strategic Rail Authority and the Rural Railway Wanted: Volunteer over 6 Feet Tall One Step Forward... ...Half a Step Back The Virgin Voyager A Late Train

My printer, however, had already started to misbehave; the thrashing it was getting in printing thousands of pages of copy for the magazine — rather more work, I feel, than that for which it was designed — began to have an effect: page misalignment as a result of an increasing failure to feed the paper through properly.

As a result, the committee decided, at its last meeting, to invest in a printer. This will be owned by the Group and will reside with whoever is responsible for printing the magazine.

Consequently, it will change its home should I hand over the job to someone else.

All That Jazz News from the Northern Extension Please Book Early Noticeboard Your Letters Membership Matters New Members

Committee Meetings I had intended to collect the new printer, from Barnstaple, week beginning Monday 12th May (Members Welcome) but, as most of you will realise, no trains ran for the whole of that week. So I have picked it up today (Monday 19th), struggling from Tuly Street to Bear Street (to collect a blind), thence over the bridge to the station, all the time trying to avoid knocking people over the parapet and into the Taw! The printer is now installed, and a quick test undertaken: all appears well. I will be able to begin production as soon as I have finished writing this excuse!

Still, there is always a silver lining, you will be pleased to know. There are now only four lines left, after this one, so I will not be able to indulge in my usual wanderings. Instead, I will welcome you to this April issue - yes, April, I'm afraid, and undertake to promise to do my best to get out the July issue sometime before August! Well, if I had written all of the above on April 1st, you would never have believed me. Now read on...

David Gosling

Chairman's Column There have been, of late, many straws in the wind. A Daily Express warning about rail cuts; a Guardian leader asserting that Whitehall thinks that railways are too expensive, 'especially the 20% of branch lines which eat up 60% of the public subsidy'; the Rail Regulator proposing that line closures might have to be considered as a means of matching Network Rail's expenditure to its income.

All blow in the same direction: rural lines are again under threat.

The latest has come in a BBC Radio 4 two-parter. Ominously entitled Back to Beeching?, its second part drew its illustrations from the North Devon line especially. Why should Newton St. Cyres have a train service, it implicitly used the voices of two interviewees to ask, when people there show little desire to use it? Why run the line at all, if Newton St. Cyres is typical of the places it serves? Why, when they require such subsidies, run lines like this at all?

We think that the programme offered a distorted picture of the North Devon line. We are making our views known to the BBC and the press (see Back to Beeching). Our concerns about the programme, however, are beside the greater point. There's increasing evidence that the straws mentioned above have substance. We know that Richard Bowker, the Chairman and Chief Executive of the Strategic Rail Authority, has said that the aim is to run the existing rail network properly, not cut it back. The SRA, however, is a body set up by central government. It is sustained by central government money and central government has recently cut the SRA's money back. In its turn, the SRA has cut its spending. The Rail Passenger Parnership scheme, from which the North Devon line has directly benefited in the form of support for extra trains, is one of the victims.?

It's the bigger picture, then, that demands our attention. It involves what looks like a growing threat, not just to individual trains, but to the very existence of rural lines. The SRA may aim to sustain them, but it is central government and, to a lesser extent, local government that will determine their future. If government, at whatever level, becomes convinced that the price is not worth paying, then they will go, ours included. We ignore this possibility at our peril.

We, and all others of like mind, need to strengthen our defences, urgently. In The Way Ahead, we already have a statement about how we want our line to be developed. In your comments on it, you, our membership, have given it your overwhelming affirmation.

For my part, I support it fully. Nonetheless, we need right now to acknowledge the romantic nature of its vision. That is to say, it sets out a scheme for a line as we would like it to be, but stops short of saying why it is worth paying for.

There lies the rub. The line is currently paid for only in part by those who use it. The rest — the greater part, even — is made up from the public purse, that is to say, by you and me through our taxes. Right now, those who hold that there are better ways of spending public money appear to be in the ascendant. The challenge to us is to demonstrate that they are wrong or, to put it more positively, that the North Devon line is worth paying for.

To do this convincingly, we must be political. Not party political, I hasten to add, but political in the sense of being involved in the ways in which we collectively make choices about how we live together. We need to make a vigorous and well-reasoned contribution to the debate. How, for example, does a well-run railway enhance the quality of our lives? How widely are its benefits spread? How does it help us to sustain north and central Devon's precious environment? How, if at all, does it do these things in ways that other modes of transport do not? Why does it need subsidy to enable it to deliver these benefits? Does it bring enough benefits to make the subsidies worth paying?

To make a wider contribution, we first need debate about these matters within our Group. The pages of our magazine offer a ready-made forum. Through it should come a clearer view of why we think that the North Devon line is worth having and, therefore, worth paying for. Alongside the issue of subsidy, there is a further matter that concerns government at all levels. It involves passenger numbers. The greater they are, the more convincing is the case for the line's continuation and even enhancement. That is why we support, wholeheartedly, the current '2 for 1' ticketing offer (see here). It is why we will support further ventures of this kind as they come on stream later this year.

There is an aspect of this, however, that we have not yet touched, other than in passing. It involves fares. The question may be simply put: does the fare structure, as it stands at the moment, best promote the use of the line and the wider aims we have for it?

We need to know where we stand on this. More precisely, we need to know what our members think.

To kick things off, I've penned an article about the subject. I'm asking the editor to include it in this issue of the magazine (see Barnstaple Fares and the Covent Garden Syndrome). The views in it are mine, not those of the group. You, our members, are invited

to respond. In this way, with your involvement, we should be able to arrive at a view about fares that we can all subscribe to. It may be quite different from the one outlined in my article. Please swamp our editor with your letters!

John Gulliver

2 for 1!

Members may have been surprised, puzzled even, to receive a mail-drop from us recently drawing attention to the Wessex Trains 2 for 1 vouchers which were no longer in the newspapers, and containing a separate voucher that had nothing to do with the press at all. Let me offer an explanation!

The newspaper offer took us by surprise. Once we saw it, however, we on the committee resolved to make sure that our membership knew about it. It was, after all, easily missed, for the vouchers were tucked away in the advertising sections of the North Devon Journal and other papers. We thought that highlighting the offer would be appreciated by anyone who had missed or forgotten it. We also thought it would be good for the line. The more passengers it carries, the more secure its future becomes. Here was a chance for us to put our weight behind the most welcome efforts being made by Wessex Trains to boost ridership.

Then we had a further idea. Making the maildrop would cost 19p postage per member plus a little more for stationery and printing.

Why not include a little more information? Wessex Trains kindly offered to let us have a supply of Days Out from Barnstaple leaflets.

The Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership chipped in with a couple hundred of its very informative Tarka Line Working Party Updates.

Both items could be included without increasing postage costs.

We worked hard to get everything ready. What we hadn't bargained for was the time it would take to get the extra leaflets to us from the printers. By the time they reached us, the newspapers were no longer carrying the vouchers. This was where Andrew Griffiths, Business Manager, Devon and Cornwall for Wessex Trains, came up trumps. He let us have a supply of vouchers for another 2 for 1 offer. Although more limited in scope than the newspaper offer, for it applied only to Wessex services, it was in one way even better: it was valid right up to December this year.

So, those of you who spotted the newspaper offer in time will have the benefit of both. Those who missed it will still have the chance to use the longer term voucher. We hope that you will agree that this is further evidence that all's well that ends well.

Do use the offer if you can. And if any of you have interesting tales to tell about places visited with the vouchers, do please let us know. Perhaps a letter to David Gosling, our magazine editor? Or even a short article?

John Gulliver

Back to Beeching?

Some would have you believe that no-one uses the intermediate stations. (Eggesford, Summer 2002) Picture: John Gulliver Some of you may have listened to the two-part BBC Radio 4 documentary that went out recently under the above name.

For those who didn't, it marked the 40th anniversary of the publication of the Beeching Report by asking whether a new round of station and line closures was desirable. Several of us on the committee heard it. We thought that it was, on the whole, well-balanced. Those who believed that branch lines had a bright future provided that they were imaginatively run were well represented. So, too, were others who thought that a long, hard look at the costs of running them needed to be taken. We were, however, very concerned about the way in

which the North Devon line was used to give the programmes relevance.

The line 'has been run on a shoe-string for the last forty years,' the presenter began, before turning to one of its stations, Newton St. Cyres. We heard him saying that he had found it difficult to find anybody to whom the rail service mattered. 'If they're honest,' he asserted, 'most people living in this village don't much care whether the station's closed or not.' The voices of two local people were heard in evidence. One said that the trains did not matter to her. To get to Exeter or Crediton, she used the bus or went by car. Her husband, she said, wanted to use it, but the connections were unsuitable. The other said that his car was his lifeline. The railway was of no consequence to him.

'Newton St. Cyres,' the presenter said later, 'sums up everything Beeching disliked about the way the railways were run in the 1960s.

Lines like the Barnstaple branch had no part in his vision of the new railway.' Reflecting on the situation today, he spoke of 'endless subsidies to little used lines.' 'If a good case for keeping them can't be made,' he concluded,' then it looks certain that more names will join the Beeching role-call of closed stations.'

We have no quarrel with the assertion that a good case for keeping line like ours needs to be made. Indeed, along with others, we are giving increasing attention to formulating one. Our concern is about the way in which uncritically accepted assertions about the line were used to make the programme's case.

First, contrary to what was implied, Newton St. Cyres is not typical of the Barnstaple line. It is one of its smallest stations, served by barely more than half its trains. Those campaigning for a service for it that is worth using were not heard. Those who would use the line, to the benefit of us all and of the environment, if the service were better, were unrepresented or, as with the husband of one of the Newton St. Cyres 'witnesses', ignored. Second, while much was made of the value people placed on their cars, nobody was invited to consider the long-term effects on the demand for rail services of rapidly rising parking charges in Exeter and other towns in the area.

Third, the Barnstaple line is by no means lightly used. Its commuter-time trains are full to standing, as are most of its services at holiday times. Before its partial closure after flood damage a year or so ago, it was carrying over a quarter of a million passengers per year. Already the numbers are recovering towards this level. Forth, while it is true that the line was for many years run on a shoe-string, much has been done in the past two years to put matters right. One only has to look at the extensively resleepered track, the widespread flood-protection measures and the newly installed waiting shelters at many of the smaller stations for evidence of this. So, too, can be seen the refurbished rolling stock which is increasingly taking over the line's service.

Finally, the programme omitted to mention the ambitious plans developed by Devon County Council, Wessex Trains and the Strategic Rail Authority for the further improvement of the service. The more these are realised, the greater will be the part that the line plays in Devon's transport system. Far from being a 'little-used line', the branch will become an integral part of the county's life.

We have made our concerns known to the BBC. We have also expressed them to the Western Morning News, which, presumably at the BBC's instigation, trailed the programmes with an article headed: Ailing Rail Line to be Focus of Radio Show. We await their responses.

John Gulliver

Dr Beeching, Sir Peter Parker and the Crumbling Edges For nearly a decade I lived comfortably in my ivory tower. I thought that there would be no more line closures. My view was strengthened by the almost startling rise in passenger numbers, probably mainly caused by disillusionment with travel on the M5, the M6 and all the other Ms. Now, worryingly, there is increasing talk in the railway press of line closures.

The railways have suffered from underinvestment since 1939. The first nine or ten years were the responsibility of Adolf Hitler, the rest you can blame on any politicians you like. Faced with the struggle to keep the railways going with insufficient funds, Sir Peter Parker, erstwhile Chairman of British Rail, sensibly concentrated on keeping the main structure intact. This, however, left little money for the rural lines, hence his reference to the crumbling edges. We have, this winter, seen the effect of this on our own line. The

replacement of 11,000 sleepers at a cost of ÂŁ2m was very welcome, but it indicated a backlog of maintenance. If these had been replaced as and when required, would it have been necessary to replace the last two trains each day with buses, with a resultant loss of income?

For various reasons, the costs of running the railways have increased considerably, and these must be brought under control.

Consequently, it seems that the ghost of Dr. Beeching may again stalk the land. Will it visit Devon and Cornwall?

The Exmouth line is safe, with a half-hourly service and three quarters of a million passengers; it has recently been necessary to add an extra carriage to its main peak time train from Exmouth and its corresponding evening return. But what of the Tarka Line? In 2002 it carried around 202,000 passengers: this means that our line is heavily subsidised. The crowded Croydon commuters could complain that, if Devonians cannot be bothered to use their trains, then the subsidy could be better spent on making their journeys more comfortable. Perhaps powerful people in London will listen.

Wessex trains are trying to promote interest in the line. They are still grappling with the problem of increasing the number of trains on a single track line. It will be interesting to see how successful their recent 2 for 1 promotion was. We certainly need something like this in the 'dead' months of November, January and February. Collecting three coupons from the North Devon Journal does seem to be a bit messy, but perhaps to the public this is part of the attraction! Would a one-off leaflet offering a 2 for 1 product delivered to properties in an area bounded by Bideford, the Westward Ho!/Appledore conurbation, Braunton, Bishops Taunton, and the villages near the railway be too costly?

The Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership continues to promote the line enthusiastically, and at every opportunity. In any event, we certainly need to hear suggestions from you as to how passenger numbers can be increased, otherwise the crowded Croydon commuters may just discover a sympathetic ear.

Hugh Butterworth

Plus Bus This is the brainchild of Journey Solutions. Plus Bus is designed to provide unlimited bus travel as an add-on to rail travel at either, or both, the origin and destination station.

It will, in due course, become nationwide. At the moment it is available at about 100 locations. You can, for example, take advantage of it if you use Birmingham New Street. It is too much to hope that one day the conductor of a Barnstaple-bound train will, having checked tickets, contact the train company's control centre. The centre will be told that some passengers have tickets beyond Barnstaple towards Bideford and inform the bus company accordingly. The next bus which is due to pass the station, after the train arrives, calls at the station to collect the passengers.

There are clearly problems for the bus company, as the detour would add 4 to 5 minutes to the journey; but are they insuperable?

Hugh Butterworth

It's Accurate, but Misleading, and Bad News for Bideford The press has reported that nearly two hundred train services a day are to be withdrawn. Perfectly accurate. But no mention is made that nearly 2,500 train services each day have been added over the last five years.

This has resulted in congestion. I notice that, on my journeys to Bristol and Waterloo, the train stops outside the station. It may only be for a minute or ninety seconds, but the train never seems to get a clear run into the station. In order to reduce this congestion, and improve reliability, nearly 200 off-peak services are being removed. This is bad news, as the better solution would be to improve the congestion points. However, no, money is available for this work. As finance is unavailable to carry out all the work needed on the current network, the Bideford extension retreats into the distant (30 years?) future, by which time the citizens of Torridgeside will be well acquainted with gridlock on the link road.

Hugh Butterworth

Barnstaple-Waterloo: The Holy Grail (continued) When South West trains bid for the Waterloo franchise in 1997, they offered to double fifty miles of track between Salisbury and Exeter, and to run two trains an hour. The Strategic Rail Authority granted the company the franchise, but excluded Waterloo-Exeter, and the offer lapsed. The line was included in the Wessex franchise and both National Express and South West Trains promised through trains to Barnstaple if their bids were accepted. The Wessex franchise was subsequently cancelled, and Waterloo-Exeter reverted to South West Trains, apparently without obligation.

Meanwhile, the SRA told train operators to concentrate on improving services, and leave the SRA itself to deal with the infrastructure.

However, the SRA has no money to carry out infrastructure improvements on the Exeter line.

We can forget the two trains an hour to Exeter. However, how many passing places would be needed in order to create an hourly service? Are two enough, or is it three? What would each passing place cost? £1million? If we knew the answers to these questions we would know whether it was feasible to raise the money needed. How could it be obtained? SWT would possibly contribute something, after all, they would benefit. Are there any grants available? Unfortunately, the local authorities affected are probably too short of cash to contribute much. But, say 40% of the cost could be found, would the SRA regard 60% as a bargain?

I know little about devolution, but from time to time I note that the Welsh Assembly and the Scottish Parliament are supportive of rail.

The assembly is helping to reopen the Barry-Bridgend and Newport-Ebbw Vale lines. The Scottish Parliament has helped in many ways. In the 1960s, the 14 mile line between Airdrie and Bathgate was lifted. Now, it is being reinstated in order to promote another route between Glasgow and Edinburgh. The Parliament is providing £107m. One hundred and seven million pounds! We cannot find £2-£3 million in order to improve a primary link to the West of England!

Oh! Railway Passengers Committee for the West of England: we need you at this hour!

Hugh Butterworth

It Isn't Always So Expensive In 1937, Bideford Council was concerned that the agricultural workers' wage had risen to 34 shillings (£1.70) per week, whereas the manual employees were only being paid 33 shillings (£1.65) each week.

In April 1937, the Southern Railway offered a cheap day return to London for 16 shillings (80 pence). The train left Bideford at 08.24 and arrived at Waterloo at 14.01. The return journey began at 23.55 and Bideford was reached at 07.05 the following morning. The normal Third Class (i.e. Standard) monthly return from Bideford to Waterloo was 34 shillings and 8 pence (£1.77 - give or take a halfpenny).

Thus, with his weekly wage, the agricultural worker could buy either one monthly return or two bargain day returns. Today, an Apex monthly return, Barnstaple to Waterloo, is £22.50, and there are many people who are earning more than £45 each week!

Hugh Butterworth

Barnstaple Fares and the Covent Garden Syndrome What, you may ask, does opera at Covent garden have to do with train fares on the Barnstaple line? Or any other line, for that matter? I want to suggest that there is a link. First, though, a confession. I'm an opera buff. This is very much to my wife's dismay.

She can't stand the stuff. Fortunately, we're fairly tolerant of each other's peculiarities. This means that, from time to time, we can

have an amicable argument about how opera should be paid for. The only problem is that I invariably lose.

The argument usually goes something like this. Why is opera so hideously expensive? Because, I reply, opera is expensive to put on.

At its best, it's the most sublime marriage of drama and music imaginable. You can't have that unless you pay for it. But, Pauline comes back, isn't Covent Garden hugely subsidised? Why should all of us pay for it whether we like it or not?

Without the subsidies, I respond, we won't have Covent Garden, or any other opera houses, for that matter. Nobody will be able to discover what they offer. We will all be the losers, even if some of us only find that opera is not for us. Fat chance, comes the reply.

The ticket prices are so high that only the very wealthy get a look in. I mumble something about the availability of low-priced seats ('restricted view' as the Garden's advertisements describe them). But, in truth, I know that they are few in number and far from the action. It's game, set and match to Pauline. Again.

It's a strange business, this. Covent Garden's heavily subsidised, as are opera houses all over Europe. I strongly support that. But it's largely the wealthy - or those benefiting from corporate hospitality, who are often the same people - who gain. It's not surprising that some see the subsidy to the garden as a subsidy to the well off.

In some ways, the railway is like Covent Garden. It's subsidised, parts of it quite heavily. It charges rather a lot for its seats (and sometimes just for a space to stand in, as many recent travellers on the main line have found to their dismay). Many say that fares in this country are among the highest in Europe. You have to be quite well-off to afford them, or in a position that allows you to pass on the charges to others. Those who can pay, travel. Those who can't, stay at home. As with Covent Garden, there's a case for saying that benefits of the subsidy go especially to the better off.

There are ways, of course, for people to cut the cost of rail journeys. They can travel off-peak. They can purchase weekly or season tickets. They can book in advance. The further ahead, the greater the reductions. But off-peak travel may be only marginally cheaper: look, for example, at the fares on the Barnstaple line. Moreover, work and other schedules rarely allow it. And booking in advance is often not feasible, as anyone who has had to fulfill a sudden engagement, such as an interview or funeral, will know. As for weekly or season tickets, many travel on an intermittent basis. For them, they have no advantage.

The consequence is that many people do not travel, or, if they do, they go other than by rail. I know of students, for example, who club together to run old bangers to get them to and fro between North Devon and Exeter and Exmouth. Rail, they say, is beyond their financial reach. It's the Covent Garden syndrome again, but on wheels.

Does this matter? I think so. For a start, the students' old bangers are probably better off the road, or at least used as little as possible. Don't get me wrong. I've go nothing against students. I was one myself, about a hundred years ago. It's just that old bangers are more likely to pollute the atmosphere than newer cars and much less likely to protect their occupants in crashes. Just remember that we all pay dearly for the consequences.

I'm touching on environmental and safety issues here. But there is another concern. It relates to what is fashionably called 'social inclusion', that is to say, to the idea that nobody should be excluded from the basic good things in life by personal circumstance.

Access to decent transport is one of those 'good things'.

We see increasing signs of this being recognised on the railway. More and more of our stations now have ramps for the disabled.

Just look at Portsmouth Arms, for example. And toilet provision on new and refurbished trains is greatly improved. But there is one bridge that is still to be crossed. It relates to fare levels. A recent report* identifies the escalating cost of public transport as one factor that prevents many people from participating in 'the good life'. I would add that nowhere is their disadvantage more evident than in train travel. Remember that it is not only students who buy old bangers because they can't afford the train fares.

What might a substantial reduction in train fares achieve? Well, for a start, it might get a lot of people out of their old bangers and into the trains (and into the buses where they connect with trains). It might even allow them to travel reliably, something that matters when they have jobs to hold down or other obligations to fulfill. Most importantly of all, it might enable some to travel who now can scarcely travel at all. That, too, is an aspect of social inclusion.

There might be a further consequence. Let's suppose that the lower fares were made available to everyone. This, indeed, would be essential. It is scarcely conceivable that lower fares for the less well-off, with all the implications this would have for means-testing, would be acceptable. Might not such fares, universally available, encourage more people to use rail rather than other modes of transport? Would that not be to everyone's long-term advantage?

This, of course, is where the parallel between rail fares and Covent Garden breaks down. At the latter, no matter how high the prices, most of the seats get sold. On the railway, too many of the seats go unsold for too much of the time. Time to break away from the Covent Garden syndrome, I say. If we're going to subsidise a railway, let's make sure that everyone can use it and that more people avail themselves of the possibility. Readers, what do you think?

John Gulliver * Making the connections: final report on transport and social exclusion. (Social Inclusion Unit)

Bishops Tawton Halt?

Member Stanley Thomas, quoting examples from the Forest of Dean (St. Mary's Church) and the Dartmoor Railway (Sampford Courtenay), indicates that it is not impossible to reopen old stations — or, indeed, to open entirely new ones. With this in mind, he suggests the opening of a new halt at Bishops Tawton — a village adjacent to the line below Barnstaple — indicating that it should not cost a mint and, since it is very close to the line, would not suffer from the difficulties most of our local stations have of being situated far from centres of population.

The examples quoted are, of course, situated on preserved lines. Would the national network be as flexible? A new station was opened at Beauly in the Scottish Highlands, last April, at a cost of £250,000. If that sort of cost is to be expected, what of future openings? Can the costs be reduced? Is there the corporate will? Are such schemes for lines such as ours a viable proposition these days, or a non-starter? What do you think? Write and let us know.

David Gosling

First Great Western Transport Links First Great Western has produced a guide to transport links in Somerset and North Devon. When you buy your rail ticket, ask for a Bus Links add-on. The guide states that all bus times and fares may change, so this is only a guide which should be checked.

Bus Link fares from Barnstaple to Appledore, Bideford, Instow, Lynton and Westward Ho! are all £1.00 single, £2.00 return. Fares to Clovelly, Combe Martin and Ilfracombe are £1.50 single and £3.00 return; from Taunton to South Molton, £1.50 single, £2.25 return; from Taunton to Lynton and Lynmouth are £4.75 single, £9.50 return.

The Bus Link ticket to Bristol Airport from Bristol Temple Meads is £3.00 single, £5.00 return, and there is a 30 minute service frequency with journey times of 20-30 minutes. The service is by 'direct luxury coach', available seven days a week, and there is a Rail-Air Customers' Lounge at platform 3 at Bristol. Bath, Bristol, Bridgwater, Taunton and Weston-super-Mare also have area add-on fares. For example, the Taunton add-on fare is 50p single, £1.00 return.

What we really need is an add-on fare for Exeter. I am not interested in the fact that Exeter services are run by a different bus company; a combined ticket would be of benefit to the passenger.

First Great Western also produce similar guides for South Devon and Cornwall; South Wales; and the Cotswolds, Wiltshire and the Thames Valley. The company's customer assistance telephone number is 0845 741 3775.

Hugh Butterworth

An Interesting Diversion The new word on the railway — 'blockade'. The powers that be realise that, instead of assembling the workforce every weekend in order to carry out repairs and improvements, it is more efficient to close, or blockade, the line and do the work in one possession of

the track.

The First Great Western main line from Paddington to Exeter is in urgent need of renewal. A series of blockades would require the use of a diversionary route. The only one available is that between Waterloo and Exeter. Because much of this line is single track west of Salisbury, its use as a diversion is severely restricted. In order to accommodate First Great Western trains running between Exeter and Paddington, trains to and from Waterloo would have to terminate at Yeovil Junction because the line does not have sufficient capacity to accommodate both. This is another reason why some doubling of the Salisbury-Exeter line is becoming more urgent.

Is there a hidden agenda in all this? Of course there is; the more trains that reach Exeter from Waterloo, the more likely some of them will carry on to Barnstaple.

Years ago, South West Trains offered, as a term of their franchise, to organise some redoubling of the track. The Strategic Rail Authority now tell South West Trains to concentrate on services while the Authority looks after the infrastructure. So, come on South West Trains; the Railway Passengers Committee for Western England; and the local authorities along the Exeter-Salisbury line; push the SRA to get on and start redoubling the line.

Hugh Butterworth

A Possible Cause of Irritation I was surprised to learn that half of Wessex Trains income comes from tickets actually sold on trains. Wessex are naturally concerned about fare evasion. (When did anyone last buy a ticket to travel between Exeter Central and St. David's?) Wessex must also be irritated by the inept conduct of the long-distance train companies along shared routes; e.g. Exeter-Plymouth. We have all heard the plaintive call of the conductor: 'Tickets from Taunton and Exeter, please,' to which only the honest respond. Wessex's irritation is caused because all the companies share the revenue and Wessex lose by the failure of others to collect fares.

Wessex are now enforcing a long-existent rule, which is only that conductors will only sell full-fare tickets — no savers, no discounts — where the passenger has joined at a manned station. This produces the slightly ludicrous situation where, if a passenger travelling to Plymouth joins the train at Teignmouth, he could then — presumably dishonestly — claimed to have joined at Dawlish in order to claim a cheaper ticket!

My plea to Wessex Trains is not to enforce this policy on Barnstaple-Exeter trains. There can be no question of fare evasion on this journey. I have travelled on the Tarka Line for nearly thirteen years and, every single time, my ticket has been checked. Obviously, if one has the time, one should always buy one's ticket at Barnstaple. But how often is one stuck in a queue while an intending passenger has all the various travel options and fares explained to him? Sue and Rodney are very good at looking down the side of the queue and asking if anyone wants a ticket for the train that is about to depart. But we have had instances where the train has left while intending passengers are still queuing.

Also, judging one's travelling time to the station is often a matter of guesswork. I once asked my taxi-driver: 'John, what time should you collect me on order to catch the 0859?' The reply was, simply: 'Hugh, you tell me!' Even allowing sufficient time to arrive 30 minutes before departure can still result in a last-minute dash.

So, Wessex, please remember that many passengers will not be aware of the no bargain fares rule. They will already be irritated by a frustrating journey to the station and this would be the last straw. So please allow your front line staff to use their discretion; they suffer enough from aggressive behaviour from passengers, and this rule, strictly enforced, will only cause further annoyance.

Hugh Butterworth

The Strategic Rail Authority and the Rural Railway The SRA recently said that loss-making rural lines have a secure future, but that imaginative ways have to be found to reduce their

costs. The SRA continued: "A lot of lines have a tourist role. But have we got trains that are really geared towards tourism? No. Should we be starting to think about that? Yes." This is a very broad hint to those companies who will be bidding for the new Greater Western franchise.

In North Devon we have 28 miles of dismantled railway line currently used by pedestrians and cyclists. There are also many miles of quiet country lanes suitable for the more ambitious cyclist. Should we not have three coach trains (one could always be locked out of use in quiet times to save on cleaning and vandalism)? One coach could have a significant portion set aside for prams, surfboards, cycles and luggage, and would be provided with tip-up seats.

Cycling and walking should be promoted in North Devon. Walkers can purchase the ÂŁ1 single and ÂŁ2 return add-on bus tickets which take them to Westward Ho! and Appledore. To avoid the rather dull part of the Tarka Trail from Barnstaple, they could travel by bus to Yelland and Instow and walk to Bideford and Appledore, returning by bus.

This year, passenger numbers on the Tarka Line were disappointing, but they were very good on the Newquay line. Newquay has two advantages: when travellers reach Newquay they are at a seaside destination; when they reach Barnstaple they still have to sort out a second journey. The second advantage is that, although Barnstaple, on summer Saturdays, has eleven trains to Newquay's five, Barnstaple trains comprise a maximum of two coaches and come from Exeter whereas Newquay's are eight-coach trains and come from Edinburgh, Leeds and Paddington. Is it any wonder that these trains are heavily patronised and sometimes full and standing on arrival at Newquay?

How well would the Tarka Line do if some of its summer Saturday trains came directly from London and the North?

Hugh Butterworth

Wanted: Volunteer over 6 Feet Tall When I travelled on a new Virgin Voyager, I found that, in coach C, the lower-numbered, aircraft-style seats did not give me enough leg room for a comfortable journey. However, there was plenty of room in the high-numbered seats.

Research is needed (by me) regarding leg room in seats in coaches B, D and, where appropriate, E (some coaches have 4 coaches, others 5). Should I win the lottery, then I will move into coach A (Club Class), the results of this research will not then be so vital, though I will be willing to pass them on to all other passengers - particularly those over 6 feet.

Hugh (Lofty) Butterworth

One Step Forward...

So now we know our future. The Tarka Line will become part of the new Greater Western franchise in 2006. The franchise will comprise the present First Great Western services to South Wales and the West of England; the branch lines of Devon and Cornwall; the local services around Bristol; and the Thames Trains franchise which operates suburban services to Reading and country services to Oxford, Worcester and Hereford.

Hopefully, this franchise will attract strong bidders, including some from Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, and subsidiaries of French railways (if our railways are so bad, why are so many continentals keen to run them?).

It is vital that the momentum is kept going. The Strategic Rail Authority must start the bidding process so that the franchise is awarded in plenty of time to allow the winner to put everything in place before the start date.

The Rail Passengers Committee, local authorities, and Members of Parliament must lobby for the type of services which they require for our region, and we, the members of NDRUG, must exert pressure on these organisations and people to ensure that the momentum is not allowed to stop.

...Half a Step Back As always with North Devon, every improvement has its disadvantages.

One company which presumably will not be bidding for the new franchise is Stagecoach. It runs South West Trains from Waterloo to Exeter and it is assumed that the SRA will not wish to create a Waterloo/Paddington monopoly.

Stagecoach is the one company which has consistently offered us direct services to Waterloo from Exeter. It also offered to organise the doubling of the Salisbury-Exeter line where necessary. Now it seems to have been handed Waterloo-Exeter on a plate.

After 60 years of underinvestment on the railway, the backlog is so great that it is doubtful whether the SRA will have any money to spend on the Exeter line in the foreseeable future. However, Stagecoach is keen to expand West of Exeter. After all, a direct link between the millions who live in the South of England and those in the South West must be advantageous to all.

Can a consortium of all parties interested in better links between Waterloo and the South West be formed to press at least for two more passing places between Salisbury and Exeter in order to improve flexibility? We look to the Rail Passenger Committees, local authorities, Members of Parliament, the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership and, being Devonians, Uncle Tom Cobleigh and all, to take action, and take it fast.

Hugh Butterworth

The Virgin Voyager We now have an hourly service from Exeter to Birmingham (and two-hourly beyond) provided by the Voyager trains. So, what are they like? I recently travelled on one from Bristol to Exeter. There certainly has been attention to detail. As the train came in it was oddly reassuring to read 'Exeter St. David's' on the front. A panel on the side proclaimed 'Destination Exeter St. David's, Next Stop Weston-super-Mare'. The information screens at each end of the carriage confirmed that 'This is Carriage C'. Other usual information about luggage, listing of stations en route, etc., followed. At the appropriate time, the message read 'The train is approaching Taunton'.

On the luggage rack immediately above each pair of seats, a screen gave the appropriate message 'Aisle This seat is not reserved', or 'Window. Reserved Sheffield to Weston-super-Mare'.

The walk-through shop contained (or had when it left Edinburgh) a good range of food and drinks and a small range of books and magazines. Headphones can be purchased for use at one's seat.

There were two disadvantages. There will clearly not be enough luggage space when the train is filled with long-distance holidaymakers. It would be helpful if you can pack your belongings into a soft bag, because this will fit in to the overhead racks. Small bags can be stowed under one's seat.

As I am 6' 4" (or 1m 95cm if you insist) I am rather keen about legroom. I had been allocate seat 15a (aisle). I found that my knees were touching the seat in front, and it was more comfortable to stretch one leg in the aisle.

However, as the train emptied, I went exploring. The layout consists of aircraft-style seats facing towards the middle where there are a few tables for four. I found, to my surprise, that the higher-number seats, from about 40 to 62, had much more legroom. I settled comfortably in seat 62 with all the legroom I required, and an excellent view out of the window. Some seats are beside supporting columns, but this is inevitable as health and safety regulations require strong supports. The ride (in seat 62) was enjoyable and I look forward to another journey.

Hugh Butterworth

A Late Train

One of the most frequent requests that we receive is one asking for the provision of a late train. One problem is that the train will have to be well-loaded as it will return empty from Barnstaple. Another is; will it fit into the shift patterns at Crediton Signal Box? The provision of a late train does mean a considerable commercial risk. One way of reducing this would be, initially, to run a late train on Fridays only. Another would be for the train to set down but not pick up passengers, and then return as empty stock. This means that, if the last passenger alighted before Barnstaple, it might be possible to turn the train round before Barnstaple.

Also, the train would not have to slow at stations where it was not due to drop passengers, making for a faster journey. If no passengers turned up at Exeter then the train need not run at all, or, if only a very few did so, then a taxi might be cheaper. Currently, the last train leaves Exeter St. David's at 20.36.

First Great Western; services leaving Paddington at 18.33 and 19.03 arrive at Exeter at 21.12 and 21.18 respectively. South West Trains; services leaving Waterloo at 17.30 and 18.35 arrive at Exeter at 20.44 and 22.02 respectively. Wessex Trains; two services from Paignton or Plymouth arrive at Exeter at 20.58 and 22.01. Virgin Trains VT1 Blue from the North West; the 13.52 from Glasgow arrives at Exeter at 20.48. Virgin Trains VT4 Orange from the North East; The 15.41 from Newcastle arrives at Exeter at 21.58.

Virgin now have a very efficient seat reservation system. You can reserve a seat at any time up to three hours before departure time.

This means that, if the 15.41 from Newcastle is running late, the Train Manager should have little difficulty in informing his Controller, shortly after leaving Taunton, of the number of passengers for the Barnstaple line.

If, therefore, a late train ran at 22.20, it could pass the current last up train at Crediton and serve passengers from 8 trains. Would passengers arriving on the earlier trains, however, be prepared to wait for up to one and a half hours for the connection?

An alternative would be for the last train to leave at 21.40 so that it could pass the current last up train at Eggesford. This would allow connections with the two First Great Western trains; the 17.30 South West Trains service; the two trains from Plymouth; the service from Cardiff; and the Virgin train originating from the North West. There would, however, not be a connection with the Virgin V4 service from Newcastle.

Hugh Butterworth

All That Jazz A disappointing turnout of about fifteen people - possibly because it only appears to be advertised in the North Devon Journal the previous day, and also because of the wet weather - characterised a recent Jazz Train on the North Devon line.

The outward journey was by the 1814 Barnstaple-Exeter Central, formed of a borrowed First North Western unit, on loan to Wessex Trains.

Stephanie, of the Rail Partnership, accompanied the passengers, and the four-piece jazz band played throughout, to the unadvertised special stop at Copplestone, where we were met by a guide from The Cross pub. A walk of approximately ten minutes took the party up the badly-lit and pot-holed approach road on to the main road to the village centre. The landlord and landlady of The Cross were very friendly, and had displayed a Tarka Line poster, advertising the event, to their locals. The party stayed at the pub until 2045 before making the return trek down to the station for the 2059 departure, the train being the 1954 Exmouth-Barnstaple, formed of one of Wessex Trains' refurbished units named The West Cornwall Experience. The band entertained us during the return journey up to our prompt arrival at Barnstaple.

Alan Wilkinson

News from the Northern Extension Speaking at the event to mark the 20th anniversary of the last passenger train on the Bideford line (6th November 1982), the Member

of Parliament for Torridge and West Devon, John Burnett, stated that, in his opinion, the closure of the line was an 'absolute crime'.

Mr. Burnett went on to call for the future reinstatement of the line, towards which he promised his support. The event, held on 6th November last, was also attended by the Chairman of Torridge District Council, Hugo Barton, and the Mayor of Bideford, Andrew Smith. Two trips along the line in the brake van, hauled by Kingsley, the group's locomotive rounded off the event.

Negotiations are at an advanced stage for a long-term loan of a Class 122, single coach diesel railcar — sometimes referred to as a bubble-car. These vehicles were frequently seen, on both the Bideford and the Taunton lines, in the mid-60s. One of the class, then in departmental use, made a special round trip from Barnstaple to Torrington on 27th January 1983, carrying the local Euro-MP, local council officials, and Alan Rushton of NDRUG. The trip was seen as a last-ditch, fact-finding exercise with a view to obtaining European funding to re-open the line. BIRG is currently in advanced negotiations with Chiltern Railways for the long-term hire of one of these units. It is hoped that, all being well, the railcar should arrive at Bideford by the end of May. What must surely be the very last stage of negotiations with Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate to commence passenger rides at Bideford has now been reached. But, under the Railways Act 1993, all railways, extensions to railways, stations, light maintenance depots and train operations brought into use since 1st April 1994 need a licence or a licence exemption from the Rail Regulator. This is in addition to all other permissions which need to be obtained from HMRI, the Health and Safety Executive, County and District Councils. BIRG is in the process of applying for a licence exemption, a process which is neither quick nor cheap.

Spring Bank Holiday Sunday, 25th May, sees a combined Rail/Maritime/Road Exhibition at Brunswick Wharf, East-the-water, Bideford. The event is being jointly organised by the Kathleen May Trust, the North Devon Classic Car Club and the Bideford and Instow Railway Group. For those wishing to use public transport, bus numbers 1 and 2 operate between the site (Barnstaple Street stop) and Barnstaple Railway Station.

Alan Wilkinson Bideford and Instow Railway Group Magazine

Please Book Early If it is at all possible, then please buy your ticket as early as possible. An obvious local example is the Barnstaple-Waterloo return. An Apex ticket, purchased at least seven days ahead is £22.50, available to all. A return bought at least the day before is £32.50 (£21.45 if you have a railcard).

There are so many examples of this, and they seem to apply particularly to Virgin Trains. It is possible (though I imagine that seats are limited) to travel first class single from London to Manchester for £31.50. But you must book at least seven days ahead. The walk-on fare is £102.50!

If you buy your ticket at Barnstaple station (and you will find Sue and Rodney very knowledgeable, and very helpful) why not write down a detailed account of the tickets which you will require. Drop it in at the station and return later to make your booking. In this way, Sue and Rodney will have had time to deal with most of the work involved before you appear.

Hugh Butterworth

Noticeboard A special charter train from Crewe to Okehampton, with over 600 passengers, ran on 15th March, hauled by Western Class locomotive No. D1015 Western Champion. It is thought that this was the first commercial train to run between Crediton and Okehampton since last September.

Morchard Road finally had its new waiting shelter installed in February; it looks very smart along with the new Southern Railwaydesigned railings also installed.

A similar shelter (at Portsmouth Arms) showing a train on which the photographer obviously did not travel!

Picture: John Gulliver Friends of Crediton Station were busy in February and March constructing some large, raised flower beds using old wooden sleepers kindly donated by Amey Rail.

A couple of likely lads get down to some heavy work at Crediton. Friends of Crediton Station members Mike Hodge and George Palin are seen constructing the base of one of the three new flower beds.

The basic structure before panelling.

Pictures: Babs Stutchbury

New long-welded rail and steel sleepers were unloaded during February and March at Coleford Junction. Relaying has yet, however, to be completed. Meanwhile, many miles of lineside fencing continues to be renewed with contractors now working south of Eggesford.

When the popular and well-known Pat Crook retired from Barnstaple a few years ago, as the last uniformed member of staff there, he was unfortunately not replaced. We are pleased to report that Wessex Trains has recently appointed a new post, that of Rail Operator — based at Barnstaple. In addition to keeping the station clean and tidy, some turn-round internal cleaning/removal of litter, etc, from trains will take place, and on-train cleaning will be performed on the busy 1014 Barnstaple, as far as Yeoford, thence — after cleaning that station — returning to Barnstaple on the 1115 from Yeoford.

Plans exist to build a telecommunications mast at Yeoford (and elsewhere) but Network Rail state that they will move the site from the down platform to a less contentious spot. Nevertheless, feelings run high in the village that it should be put there at all! A Class 153 is here seen entering Yeoford on a Barnstaple-Exeter working last summer.

Picture: John Gulliver The now rare use of Class 143 4-wheeled units unfortunately took place on one service in February. Fortunately, Class 158 units (marketed by Wessex as Alphaline services) can substitute for the normal units

and the well-filled 1817 from Exeter to Barnstaple, on Saturday 8th March, was thus formed.

Problems with the new Virgin Voyagers' on-board electrical/digital information systems - such as seat reservations, coach identification letters and calling points — continue and often seem widespread. Travelling to Bristol on 8th March, it was apparent that at least four different trains had these defects, with only one train reverting to the former card seat reservation tickets, thereby giving any indication at all to passengers!

Wessex Trains HQ at Exeter have advised us that, due to the pressure of work caused to Network Rail and themselves by the many ongoing alterations necessary to Virgin Cross Country services, it has regretfully not been possible to include any of the timetable suggestions put to them by our Timetable Sub-Group last October.

This summer's North Devon line services are very similar to last year and those to Okehampton are planned to serve Sampford Courtenay; probably from July when work on the station there is scheduled to be completed.

The official opening of Woody Bay station on the first section of the revitalised Lynton and Barnstaple Railway is scheduled for 11th May. Over 500 yards of line has already been laid and an original guards van, now restored, has been delivered to Woody Bay. Intending visitors using the North Devon line are able to reach Woody Bay by First North Devon bus number 310 — some, usefully, connect with trains: telephone 0870 608 2608 for bus details.

The latest South West Public Transport Users Forum meeting, organised by the Rail Passenger Committee, was held in Bristol on Saturday 8th March to consider the proposals set out in the Forum's Draft Regional Public transport Strategy, prior to its submission to the South West Regional Assembly for consideration later this year. Amongst over 100 attendees were NRUG delegates Tony Hill and Andrew Tummon. The following were some of the most strongly felt points raised at the Forum, receiving the most support from delegates: Introduce congestion charges in the major urban areas with the money thereby raised being used to improve public transport; Ensure that the planning process considers the effects of any development plans on transport; Understand that transport has no boundaries and, consequently, needs regional organisation; Make people more aware of public transport services in the South West, encouraging the greater use of trains and buses; Promote the creation of a transport strategy that is easily understood and that local authorities can sign up to.

There was also a general feeling (not surprisingly) that the South West is the poor relation in transport infrastructure.

There was much criticism of Virgin Cross Country for the lack (since 30th September 2002) of any weekday through trains between the South West/South Wales and the major centres of Manchester and Liverpool. It is understood that Virgin's revised service (or lack of!) at Gloucester has received much adverse comment, not only from passengers, but also from the local authorities.

It was concerning to everyone that government reductions, via the SRA, in money available meant that any planned improvements to the rail infrastructure and train services were now in serious jeopardy, with many schemes already put off indefinitely. The cost of works being carried out to permit the old downside platform 4 at Swindon to be used again by passenger trains was quoted at £11m!

Even moving a signal can cost £1m. These were examples of just how much things now cost. Is it any wonder that reopening of lines and new stations has virtually come to a halt since privatisation?

In addition, Tony Hill (under the umbrella of the Alternative Main Line Action Group) proposed the need for an alternative route between Exeter and Plymouth due to the vulnerability of the present coastal route between Dawlish Warren and Teignmouth. This was strongly endorsed, with general agreement that reopening the former Southern Main Line between Okehampton and Bere Alston, closed in 1968, was the obvious choice: this would also serve and benefit West Devon and North Cornwall, with a new

parkway station at Sourton, about three miles west of Okehampton.

Tony Hill For personal reasons, Jim Rhodes has unfortunately had to withdraw from the committee for the time being. This means, of course, that he will be unable to continue his valuable work as Press and Publicity Officer. He assures us that he is with us in spirit and wishes to be kept acquainted with progress. The committee would like to take this opportunity to thank him for the work he has put into the position.

David Gosling

Your Letters

Charter Trains We have long since complained about the inability to receive charter trains at Barnstaple due to lack of suitable infrastructure. You would be forgiven for considering this state of affairs as being irrelevant on reading the following from David Latimer of Cheshire Railtours. It contains some sad and sobering news with regard to the future — or lack of future — of the charter train in our country. To begin with, David's letter to NDRUG is printed, followed by an edited version of that to his customers.

Just a line to say we've reached the end of the line — GW have stopped chartering trains completely — we can't even do our Dunster trip so, sadly, there won't be any more from Barnstaple.

We approached Wessex Trains and they were not prepared to charter trains, nor were South West Trains or Wales and Borders, and nor were Virgin.

A copy of the letter to our customers enclosed: "...after a long and successful history of hiring InterCity 125 trains for destinations across the West Country, in particular to Dunster, where trains consistently sold out, management at Great Western have finally 'pulled the plug' on the few remaining trains that we run with them 'due to business constraints', as they put it.

"We have written to them asking them to reconsider and, only after several reminders, did they even bother to reply, again stating that they would not be hiring out trains for excursions under any circumstances. We have pointed out to them the large amounts of money these trains raise for charities and for the volunteer-run West Somerset Railway, not to mention the pleasure they bring to thousands of people, who would otherwise have to travel by road to Dunster, where parking is banned anyway during the candlelight celebrations, but to no avail.

"I am troubled at the state our railways have deteriorated to since privatisation, such that there are simply no spare trains available anywhere in the West that can be hired. After privatisation, Great Western continued the B.R. policy of chartering trains out any weekend to virtually anywhere. But as the effects of privatisation took their toll, the availability of trains and destinations Great Western were prepared to operate to dropped every year, such that they are now refusing even to consider running short distance trips such as those to Dunster.

"Sadly, all the warnings about the effects of privatisation have come true and the reality is that money that went into resources under B.R. is now indirectly used to pay dividends, directors' bonuses and the army of accountants and solicitors who now run the railways. We have a 'Labour' Government whose attitude to public services is even more right wing than their

Fares I know there have been many letters about fares but readers may find a 4useful tip in a very recent experience that has something I cannot remember being mentioned before.

All prices are for a November 2002 journey made with a Young Persons railcard.

Junior is in Manchester and intended a short visit home. Having previously used internet ticket purchases for Virgin Trains, she looked at what was available. The least expensive Barnstaple return was ÂŁ54, considered to be too much for a short stay.

Further exploration yielded a Manchester to Exeter return for ÂŁ16.50. A bargain, you may think. Then buy an Exeter to Barnstaple ticket upon arrival at Exeter.

Now the connection to the last train to Barnstaple was but a few minutes and we all know the reliability of a Virgin train, and I was unsure if a taxi ride would be available if you had not previously booked to Barnstaple. Anxious to avoid an 80-mile round trip, Saturday night, I remembered once that I extended a ticket I had already purchased to a new destination and suggested she go to Manchester station and buy an extension.

Junior undertook this task and rang straight away to advise her success. Expecting to pay circa ÂŁ10 she was charged the princely sum of 70p return for the extension. Now this is less than 1p a mile. Can anyone better that for a bargain fare, especially on our line?

David Crick

Empty seats on refurbished units!

I was interested in the letter from Richard Rogers in issue 12 of the magazine and his reference to the presence of a Class 158 on the North Devon line. We had a similar pleasant experience on 26th October last year when our train was a refurbished Class 150 — a great improvement on the existing sets, particularly the seating.

What was disappointing was the number of passengers — about eight or nine — for the whole of the journey between Exeter and Barnstaple. I appreciate that all trains cannot be well loaded, and there were many passengers waiting for the return journey from Barnstaple. It would appear that this train (the 0849 Saturdays from Exeter) would be attractive for shoppers, particularly from those stations nearer Barnstaple. Although there is the walk over the bridge to the town, the multitude of shops and retail outlets on the site of the old goods yard are but a few steps from the station. There has, in the past, been some excellently-produced literature on the line, but it appears that prising people out of their cars is a time-consuming process!

Michael J. R. Hodge

The new interior of a refurbished Class 150, two-car unit. The basic difference is in the substitution of 3+2 seating by 2+2, resulting in a perceptible enhancement in appearance and spaciousness. It may not be perfect - the lilac is not to everyone's taste - but it is a great improvement on what went before!

Picture: Mike Hodge

A Brief Trip to Barnstaple The following is an abridged version of a letter, originally sent to Wessex Trains, which here, however, provides a descriptive account of what was supposed to be just a simple, uneventful trip!

On Wednesday, 14th November, I wished to attend the North Devon Rail Users Group Annual General Meeting in Barnstaple, commencing 1830. However, as I kept myself aware of alterations to train services, I was aware that there was no late-night train at 2145 from Barnstaple, but a bus service which departed much earlier than the train it replaced — consequently, I would have been unable to stay until the end of the meeting and would have had a much prolonged journey back to Plymouth the same evening. I therefore made arrangements to stay with a friend, planning to leave on the 0859 the following morning. I wanted to break the outward journey at Eggesford, then catch the 1730 from Eggesford to Barnstaple. I explained to the ticket clerk at Plymouth that I wanted to break my outgoing journey. I asked for a saver return to Eggesford and a separate saver return from Eggesford to Barnstaple. I purchased the return to Eggesford but was told that no saver return was available for the short trip to and from Eggesford and Barnstaple.

At Exeter, I missed the 1451 Barnstaple train - entirely my own fault - so purchased, at Exeter station, a single ticket from Eggesford to Barnstaple, subsequently catching the 1651 all the way to Barnstaple.

Having attended the NDRUG AGM, and spending the night with my friend, we arrived at Barnstaple station with about five minutes to spare — there was no train in the station and no potential passengers waiting. The railway was (yet again) flooded. I purchased a single ticket to Eggesford.

I sat back and relaxed in the coach and viewed the flooded Taw Valley in the sunshine. The coach driver was helpful and courteous, got out at every station to carefully look for any potential passengers, and expertly reversed the coach out of the narrow access to Chapleton station — albeit with some help from one of the passengers who held up the traffic on the A377.

All the passengers alighted from the coach at Crediton station. I had been told by the Barnstaple Ticket Clerk that a train would be waiting at Crediton but, unfortunately, this was not to be: so all the passengers got on the coach again and we finally arrived at Exeter St. David's at 1055. Even though mainline services were also disrupted, I was fortunate enough to catch the train departing at 1106 to Plymouth. I was given free coffee and biscuits — which I was most pleased to receive. I arrived at Plymouth at 1205 and, by catching buses, I was still in time to attend a meeting commencing at 1300.

I wish to make two points: firstly, several members of NDRUG, whom I met at the AGM, mentioned the existence of some sort of

Membership Matters New Members We welcome: Mr and Mrs Baker, Barnstaple

Committee Meetings (Members Welcome) Tuesday 24th June; 18.30; Castle Centre, Barnstaple Wednesday 13th August; 19.00; Eggesford Country Hotel