Barnstaple to Ilfracome branch line filmed in 1969 , the line closed in october 1970 . much ofthe trackbed is now a footpath , the Tarka trail and swcp .
I lived in Braunton way back in the late 1960s early 70s residing at 10b Abbotts Hill and working at Taw Garage in Barnstaple. I knew the line well... Such a shame that it was closed as today it would be a top tourist attraction making a fortune...
As a small child we went to Ilfracombe for a holiday by train from the Midlands which was quite a trek in those days, involving a number of changes. Dad didn't drive then so railways were the only option, but what an exciting one. Just about the whole of the first day would have involved getting there but its not much better today fighting the road traffic, the big dream of the road planners has become more a nightmare. I must stop watching these films about the demise of our once great rial network, they are nostalgic but terribly sad.
I recall my dad driving us over the hump-backed bridge at Woolacombe Station, on our way to our 2 week summer holiday at Coombes Hotel back in 1965/66. Since the line closed, the bridge over the old line has been removed and the station site redeveloped into starter homes. Even though most every last trace of the line has been remove and repurposed, you can still following the course of the line on Google Maps, all the way from the old Ilfacombe Station site, down through the River Caen valley, to Braunton and on to Barnstable. The film brough back many memories of my childhood, especially the sight of a white Austin Cambridege, which was coincidentally that car my dad owned and carted his six kids in. Many thanks for posting this film.
WELL DONE on posting these, brought back a lot of memories. I recognised my fathers dulcit tones on the narration and remember helping in the filming, the kid drinking the lemonade is me!
I grew up in Braunton in the50's and 60's. Thank you so much for giving me a glimpse of my childhood. It's such a shame that this line closed, so many happy memories
I love this. We used to go to Ilfracombe and Woolacombe up to 1972. I was only 4 so don't remember the railway. One of the cars could be mine. Thank you.
This is such a beautifully made film. So many wel thought out shots, and well crafted story. I am sure that the loss of that line damaged local and regional economy, with the effects of that still being experienced.
Made my heart jump as my uncle manned stoney bridge Knowel and I spent my summer holidays with my grandad who lived in the cottage at Chivnor and manned the Duckpool crossing . Yes the bells rung in the cottage and the Pacific wheels passed the windows. Hundreds of trips from Wrafton Braunton on battle of Britons. Opening the gates been allowed to pull the leavers all like yesterday to me
Watched Parts 1 & 2 Many Times Marvellous Forthought from the Film Maker & Narrator.... Never Had the Opportunity to Travel on the Ilfracombe Railway Line...
Such a waste ....this lovely old line would probably pay it's way these days. Interesting to see Braunton traffic was heavy in those days too !! Great upload.
My first encounter with this line was sadly after it had closed . The Bridge over the Taw was still there at Barnstaple and Braunton station was still intact with track still down and gates still there although rusty and overgrown... I remember making my dad stop the car so i could get out and walk down the line as far as the home signal which I did. My dad died in 1976 so it must have been either 1974 or 75 I think. It was a very sad sight and one that I will never forget.
I’m glad to have visited Barnstaple Junction locomotive shed in the early 1960s The western region we’re still dropping a slip coach at the station. The Ilfracombe train had backing churchward 4-6-0
I cycled from Torrington to Braunton on Friday, thinking about the old railway & taking "now" photos to compare with "then" photos - and now this wonderful video. I bought an ice-cream from the newsagents that was once the station master's house. I wonder what happened to the signal box which would have been approximately where I stood, took photos and enjoyed the ice-cream...
A group of enthusiasts tried to purchase the line, which explains why almost everything was intact two years after closure. Unfortunately, they could not raise sufficient funds; British Rail gave a deadline which could not be met, so track lifting began in about 1974.
Beeching was employed with the results of his research already allegedly pre ordained. The measurements of travellers were purposefully taken after the busiest morning trains on smaller stations, which fed the main lines. This skewed the results in favour of closure. The BR and Government knew that as soon as people tried to switch to the alternative bus and coach services - (initially subsidised, but quickly pared back or cut as soon as the subsidy was removed), they would try to go back to using the train - hence the uncommon haste to get track lifted and taken away - thereby making this impossible. Ask yourself - even today, how quickly do Government building projects get approval and works start - often a line would close, and the track would be lifted within days! The ONLY winners were Marples Ridgeway , who won contracts for road building required to take the place of the now removed trains....and the Chairman - One Ernest Marples - the same person who commissioned AND approved the Beeching report.....perhaps the largest conflict of interest ever recorded?
The truth is very few people used the branch railways from the mid 50s onwards. They required maintaining at vast expense and the car was more convenient.
Just as we see today with the massively expensive (and now proved dangerous) "smart motorways", which are all being built (very slowly) by construction companies who just happen to also be major Tory party donors. The system is rotten to the core.
I totally agree with the comments and sentiments of others that have posted their thoughts here. This is a railway that shouldn't have been closed, a trip by road from Barnstaple to Ilfracombe is certainly not an easy and direct route and if it had survived with a modern train and proper timetable, we'd all be the better for it. Sadly the Taw Bridge being dismantled so soon after closure together with redevelopment of some sites along the railway (why this was ever allowed to happen is beyond me) mean it's virtually impossible to reinstate in it's original condition, but I hear that a light railway / tramway is being proposed by a local group as far as Braunton.
The vaguest of memories in the summer of 1947. Father came back from India and Burma in the November '46, and this was our very first holiday. We remember it chiefly because he was challenged to drinking cider. Oops, that went wrong.
I love trains and the old lines' loss was terrible. But Beeching was just doing his job. There was a huge amount of waste in the 1960s - with some stations open just for one or two passengers a day. The cost was enormous and pretty much unsustainable in post war Britain. Cars were the real problem with people abandoning the railways in their droves.
At the beginning of 1963, just before Beeching, the line was transferred from the Southern to the Western Region. The Western Region had no use for the lines it had inherited, which was the ENTIRE Southern system west of Salisbury. Ilfracombe lost its through trains to Waterloo at the end of the 1964 summer. It had ONE through train to Paddington on summer Saturdays in lieu, and that probably ceased in 1966, when the Barnstaple to Taunton line closed. (If it ran after that, it would have to reverse at Exeter.) Passengers from Ilfracombe would have to make do with high-density diesel multiple units as far as Exeter, 55 miles. In 1967, the branch was singled, and reduced to "one engine in steam." So the branch was deliberately run down before closure in 1970. There were several flaws in Beeching's methods. First, he was an industrial chemist and had no accountancy qualifications. Second, he only considered receipts from stations. Holiday resorts like Ilfracombe would not sell many long-distance tickets, even in summer, but many more would have bought returns to these resorts. Third, at some stage in the 1960's, British Rail based freight and parcels receipts and the like from the junction station, so by 1970, these receipts would have gone to the Barnstaple Junction accounts. It is in any case odd that some lines which had potential were closed, while a number of lesser lined survived.
When was the track actually lifted? Because I can remember visiting relatives in Braunton at (I believe) Easter 1975, when the rails were still in place!
A group of enthusiasts tried to purchase the line, but they could not raise sufficient funds. This was why the track remained in place. Unfortunately, British Rail's patience ran out, and demolition began in about 1974.
Beeching made 2 recommendations to the Govt. The first they accepted with glee, and we all know what that was. The second was to heavily invest in what was left. which they and subsequent Governments forgot about. To be honest privatisation has done more for the railways today than nationalisation ever did, although the taxpayer still pays a huge subsidy annually to fund Network Rail. The simple fact is that the onset of the car and lorry would have led to the Beeching cuts anyway.
1:32-1:50 shows why that line closed. An almost empty train. It's all supply and demand. If there's no demand, why supply? People don't go on holiday to the seaside anymore... you get on a plane to Spain (etc). Nostalgia can't hide the fact that this line wasn't a viable route beyond Barnstaple.
This comment hasn't aged well! Due to #Covid19 we can't fly anywhere anymore, and North Devon and it's narrow roads are jammed with UK tourists this summer of 2020.
Would think as with other areas, the population has increased, more housing built and tourism increased putting pressure on the roads. The lines and the land they used should have been mothballed for at least 20 years and a review made. This line would most probably have been reinstated. You only have to look at branch lines that have survived such as St Ives, to see how well used they are.
The Western Region deliberately ran the branch down. (It acquired it from the Southern Region at the beginning of 1963.) The first stage was to withdraw the through trains to Waterloo, at the end of the 1964 summer. Trains to and from Waterloo then ran no further than Exeter. Passengers from Ilfracombe had to endure a 55-mile journey in a high-density, non-corridor diesel multiple unit, and change at Exeter. That, surely is sufficient to prove that fewer passengers were now using the line. In 1967, the Western Region singled the track, and then, or shortly after, reduced the branch to "one engine in steam." Did this coincide with more service cuts? In other words, services were deliberately run down. Beeching was only interested in receipts from stations. It never occurred to him that people bought returns.🎉
I lived in Braunton way back in the late 1960s early 70s residing at 10b Abbotts Hill and working at Taw Garage in Barnstaple. I knew the line well... Such a shame that it was closed as today it would be a top tourist attraction making a fortune...
As a small child we went to Ilfracombe for a holiday by train from the Midlands which was quite a trek in those days, involving a number of changes. Dad didn't drive then so railways were the only option, but what an exciting one. Just about the whole of the first day would have involved getting there but its not much better today fighting the road traffic, the big dream of the road planners has become more a nightmare.
I must stop watching these films about the demise of our once great rial network, they are nostalgic but terribly sad.
It is enough to bring tears of anger even after all these years
I recall my dad driving us over the hump-backed bridge at Woolacombe Station, on our way to our 2 week summer holiday at Coombes Hotel back in 1965/66. Since the line closed, the bridge over the old line has been removed and the station site redeveloped into starter homes. Even though most every last trace of the line has been remove and repurposed, you can still following the course of the line on Google Maps, all the way from the old Ilfacombe Station site, down through the River Caen valley, to Braunton and on to Barnstable. The film brough back many memories of my childhood, especially the sight of a white Austin Cambridege, which was coincidentally that car my dad owned and carted his six kids in. Many thanks for posting this film.
WELL DONE on posting these, brought back a lot of memories. I recognised my fathers dulcit tones on the narration and remember helping in the filming, the kid drinking the lemonade is me!
I grew up in Braunton in the50's and 60's. Thank you so much for giving me a glimpse of my childhood. It's such a shame that this line closed, so many happy memories
Victor Thompson was a genius to catch all this before it all went, I knew him well, sadly missed, grat film!
I love this. We used to go to Ilfracombe and Woolacombe up to 1972. I was only 4 so don't remember the railway. One of the cars could be mine. Thank you.
Great Memories...
This is such a beautifully made film. So many wel thought out shots, and well crafted story. I am sure that the loss of that line damaged local and regional economy, with the effects of that still being experienced.
Made my heart jump as my uncle manned stoney bridge Knowel and I spent my summer holidays with my grandad who lived in the cottage at Chivnor and manned the Duckpool crossing . Yes the bells rung in the cottage and the Pacific wheels passed the windows. Hundreds of trips from Wrafton Braunton on battle of Britons. Opening the gates been allowed to pull the leavers all like yesterday to me
Well crafted film , well done Mr Thompson.
A very poetic look at a closed line.
The destruction of the line to Ilfracombe was an act of stupidity.
Watched Parts 1 & 2 Many Times
Marvellous Forthought from the Film Maker & Narrator....
Never Had the Opportunity to
Travel on the Ilfracombe Railway Line...
Such a waste ....this lovely old line would probably pay it's way these days. Interesting to see Braunton traffic was heavy in those days too !! Great upload.
***** It's nice to look back in time Alberto.
My first encounter with this line was sadly after it had closed . The Bridge over the Taw was still there at Barnstaple and Braunton station was still intact with track still down and gates still there although rusty and overgrown... I remember making my dad stop the car so i could get out and walk down the line as far as the home signal which I did. My dad died in 1976 so it must have been either 1974 or 75 I think. It was a very sad sight and one that I will never forget.
The bridge over the Taw was in a very poor state and was demolished c1977.
Thanks for memories was around there 70 years ago flying a kite on Woolacombe or Ilfracombe beach.
I’m glad to have visited Barnstaple Junction locomotive shed in the early 1960s The western region we’re still dropping a slip coach at the station. The Ilfracombe train had backing churchward 4-6-0
Those were the days 🎵🎶my friend🎶🎵
We thought they'd never end🎵🎵
I cycled from Torrington to Braunton on Friday, thinking about the old railway & taking "now" photos to compare with "then" photos - and now this wonderful video. I bought an ice-cream from the newsagents that was once the station master's house. I wonder what happened to the signal box which would have been approximately where I stood, took photos and enjoyed the ice-cream...
You can hear the anger in the narrator's voice, and I share his anger.
Great Fim & Narration, I only Wish I Had Taken a Trip on the Line
Particularly between Ilfracombe &
Braunton.
Everything was still intact in June 1972. We walked most of it. Red rust everywhere in the summer sun.
A group of enthusiasts tried to purchase the line, which explains why almost everything was intact two years after closure. Unfortunately, they could not raise sufficient funds; British Rail gave a deadline which could not be met, so track lifting began in about 1974.
BRILLIANT~~THANX FOR POSTING~*~
Beeching was employed with the results of his research already allegedly pre ordained. The measurements of travellers were purposefully taken after the busiest morning trains on smaller stations, which fed the main lines. This skewed the results in favour of closure. The BR and Government knew that as soon as people tried to switch to the alternative bus and coach services - (initially subsidised, but quickly pared back or cut as soon as the subsidy was removed), they would try to go back to using the train - hence the uncommon haste to get track lifted and taken away - thereby making this impossible. Ask yourself - even today, how quickly do Government building projects get approval and works start - often a line would close, and the track would be lifted within days! The ONLY winners were Marples Ridgeway , who won contracts for road building required to take the place of the now removed trains....and the Chairman - One Ernest Marples - the same person who commissioned AND approved the Beeching report.....perhaps the largest conflict of interest ever recorded?
British railways were losing millions on the early 60s. If the branch lines weren't losing the money, where were the losses coming from?
The truth is very few people used the branch railways from the mid 50s onwards. They required maintaining at vast expense and the car was more convenient.
@@exilenm2 Annual compensation payments to the share holders of the pre nationalised rail company’s was a huge drain on British rails cash flow.
Just as we see today with the massively expensive (and now proved dangerous) "smart motorways", which are all being built (very slowly) by construction companies who just happen to also be major Tory party donors. The system is rotten to the core.
I agree, that music...! Great vid, I have it here at home, think I bought it in Barnstaple.
wow that train looks faster than the 1 we got from barnstaple to exeter lol i wish we still had this train buses are so expensive :(
I totally agree with the comments and sentiments of others that have posted their thoughts here. This is a railway that shouldn't have been closed, a trip by road from Barnstaple to Ilfracombe is certainly not an easy and direct route and if it had survived with a modern train and proper timetable, we'd all be the better for it. Sadly the Taw Bridge being dismantled so soon after closure together with redevelopment of some sites along the railway (why this was ever allowed to happen is beyond me) mean it's virtually impossible to reinstate in it's original condition, but I hear that a light railway / tramway is being proposed by a local group as far as Braunton.
There you are Thanks very much, what's this, it's a window sticker that says we've been to Ilfracombe. Rip Harry worth comedy clip
Thank you
Wakled and cycled the line this week some great views and good to see how its use to look!
Actually a beautiful piece of film!!
That music...
The line to Ilfracombe needs reopening
Closed and destroyed by short sighted politics
The vaguest of memories in the summer of 1947. Father came back from India and Burma in the November '46, and this was our very first holiday. We remember it chiefly because he was challenged to drinking cider. Oops, that went wrong.
Dr beeching was a nob...all these wonderful branchlines gone,such a shame
Much better times. Sad to see the demise of it all
I love trains and the old lines' loss was terrible. But Beeching was just doing his job. There was a huge amount of waste in the 1960s - with some stations open just for one or two passengers a day. The cost was enormous and pretty much unsustainable in post war Britain. Cars were the real problem with people abandoning the railways in their droves.
At the beginning of 1963, just before Beeching, the line was transferred from the Southern to the Western Region. The Western Region had no use for the lines it had inherited, which was the ENTIRE Southern system west of Salisbury. Ilfracombe lost its through trains to Waterloo at the end of the 1964 summer. It had ONE through train to Paddington on summer Saturdays in lieu, and that probably ceased in 1966, when the Barnstaple to Taunton line closed. (If it ran after that, it would have to reverse at Exeter.) Passengers from Ilfracombe would have to make do with high-density diesel multiple units as far as Exeter, 55 miles. In 1967, the branch was singled, and reduced to "one engine in steam." So the branch was deliberately run down before closure in 1970. There were several flaws in Beeching's methods. First, he was an industrial chemist and had no accountancy qualifications. Second, he only considered receipts from stations. Holiday resorts like Ilfracombe would not sell many long-distance tickets, even in summer, but many more would have bought returns to these resorts. Third, at some stage in the 1960's, British Rail based freight and parcels receipts and the like from the junction station, so by 1970, these receipts would have gone to the Barnstaple Junction accounts. It is in any case odd that some lines which had potential were closed, while a number of lesser lined survived.
When was the track actually lifted? Because I can remember visiting relatives in Braunton at (I believe) Easter 1975, when the rails were still in place!
A group of enthusiasts tried to purchase the line, but they could not raise sufficient funds. This was why the track remained in place. Unfortunately, British Rail's patience ran out, and demolition began in about 1974.
Narrated by Victor Thompson...
would any one know the type or class of the DMU in this film, thanks
They will have to build a new station at ifracombe
where in Ilfracombe was the station ?
On the first roundabout in Ilfracombe take the first left somewhere around Station Road.
ok, tnx !
On a steep hill well above the town. An industrial estate now stands on the site.
Beeching made 2 recommendations to the Govt. The first they accepted with glee, and we all know what that was. The second was to heavily invest in what was left. which they and subsequent Governments forgot about. To be honest privatisation has done more for the railways today than nationalisation ever did, although the taxpayer still pays a huge subsidy annually to fund Network Rail. The simple fact is that the onset of the car and lorry would have led to the Beeching cuts anyway.
A common misconception, overall it’s freight that generates the main revenue, passenger flow is a service to the community and society in general.
Sad
1:32-1:50 shows why that line closed.
An almost empty train.
It's all supply and demand. If there's no demand, why supply?
People don't go on holiday to the seaside anymore... you get on a plane to Spain (etc).
Nostalgia can't hide the fact that this line wasn't a viable route beyond Barnstaple.
This comment hasn't aged well! Due to #Covid19 we can't fly anywhere anymore, and North Devon and it's narrow roads are jammed with UK tourists this summer of 2020.
Would think as with other areas, the population has increased, more housing built and tourism increased putting pressure on the roads. The lines and the land they used should have been mothballed for at least 20 years and a review made. This line would most probably have been reinstated. You only have to look at branch lines that have survived such as St Ives, to see how well used they are.
The Western Region deliberately ran the branch down. (It acquired it from the Southern Region at the beginning of 1963.) The first stage was to withdraw the through trains to Waterloo, at the end of the 1964 summer. Trains to and from Waterloo then ran no further than Exeter. Passengers from Ilfracombe had to endure a 55-mile journey in a high-density, non-corridor diesel multiple unit, and change at Exeter. That, surely is sufficient to prove that fewer passengers were now using the line. In 1967, the Western Region singled the track, and then, or shortly after, reduced the branch to "one engine in steam." Did this coincide with more service cuts? In other words, services were deliberately run down. Beeching was only interested in receipts from stations. It never occurred to him that people bought returns.🎉