LYNTON & BARNSTAPLE RAILWAY BIDS AGAIN FOR BRATTON FLEMING

Exmoor Associates has said it is “essential” to acquire Bratton Fleming station if the entirety of the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway is to be reopened.

It comes as the organisation

– a private limited company set up to purchase and maintain the trackbed of the former L&B – is making a second bid to purchase the station. It had previously lost the chance to acquire Bratton Fleming when it unexpectedly came on the market in early March; EA was in the process of accumulating funds to meet the £325,000-plus asking price when the station was sold in April to a third party (SR505). However, the deal has subsequently fallen through after the purchaser failed to secure a loan to acquire the property, meaning that the station is again available.

EA co-director David Cameron said: “If the railway is ever going to reopen in its entirety, it is essential that this station and trackbed is secured.” To that end, EA has launched its ‘Friends of Bratton’ scheme, an initiative in which people can secure ‘slots’ of £500 each, with a maximum of 700 slots available and bronze, silver, gold and platinum reward levels should they donate £500, £2,500, £5,000 or £7,500 or more respectively. Exact rewards have yet to be decided.

The station, situated between Blackmoor Gate and Chelfham – the latter already being in the L&B Trust’s hands while the former is the target of its extension from Killington Lane to Wistlandpound – has been much altered since the L&B closed in September 1935. A decision whether or not to revert the site to its railway-era condition is to be voted upon by FoB members, as will a decision whether to relay track north from Bratton Fleming towards Wistlandpound.

For more information, contact David Cameron via 01277 353272 or david@exmoor-associates. co.uk

●● For those wishing to donate less than £500, a JustGiving fundraising page has been set up: www.justgiving.com/crowd funding/brattonfleming

STAGS Bratton Fleming station as it is today. Should they acquire the station, the Friends of Bratton will vote on whether to remove the domestic modifications made to the building since the line closed in September 1935.