page_title: Lynton and Barnstaple Railway
section_title: Restoration
hierarchical_section_title: Lynton and Barnstaple Railway / Present / Restoration
caption_attribution_description: English: Tracklaying at Woody Bay, Lynton &amp; Barnstaple railway, Spring 2003 Photograph taken by: Martyn de Young
context_page_description: The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway is a Heritage railway in North Devon, England.
  The original line opened in May 1898, but closed in 1935. It was a single track narrow gauge railway just over 19 miles long, running through rugged rural countryside in Exmoor National Park
  For a few years the line earned a small profit, but for most of its life the L&B lost money. The L&B was taken over by the Southern Railway in 1923, and finally closed in September 1935.
  The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Association was created in 1979. A short section of the line opened again in 2004. This was extended in 2006 and a year later, plans were announced to open nine miles of track, linking the station at Woody Bay to both Lynton and Blackmoor Gate, and eventually to a new station at Wistlandpound Reservoir.
context_section_description: Unlike other railways, the track bed was sold off in many pieces - often to the original owners, who paid much less than they had sold it for originally. Although there has been some minor building on parts of the route, and Wistlandpound Reservoir has flooded the track bed close to its middle, much is still in open countryside, with many sections identifiable.
  The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Association (since 2000, a charity) was formed in 1979. Woody Bay Station was bought by the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway Company in 1995 and, after much effort, a short section of railway reopened to passengers in 2004. This was extended to over a mile in 2006, with steam and diesel trains running between Woody Bay and the new, temporary station at Killington Lane Station.
  In 1995, the Lynbarn Railway – at the Milky Way, a theme park near Clovelly, was created and operated by L&B volunteers. Profits from this funded the purchase, restoration and reopening of Woody Bay. The Lynbarn was handed over to the park in 2005, once Woody Bay had become established, and continues to operate as part of the attraction.
  Most of the original rail vehicles did not survive, but Van 23 is on display at Woody Bay. Coach 7 and Coach 17 are being rebuilt. The remains of several other carriages and Goods Van 4 are being stored ready to be rebuilt. The carriages will then be used as a "Heritage Train" to complement more modern carriages.
  Coach 2 was sold and used as a summer house. It is now on show at the National Railway Museum in York, with nameplates from the original engines. Coach 15, recovered from Snapper Halt in 1959 and rebuilt by the Ffestiniog Railway in North Wales, has been running there (now as FR Coach 14) for longer than it did on the L&B. In September 2010, Coach 15 visited the L&B with the Lew replica engine, Lyd.
  A "Joffre" class 0-6-0 steam engine built by Kerr Stuart in 1915 was bought in 1983, and named Axe. Restored to working order in 2008, Axe now pulls most of the passenger trains at Woody Bay. An 0-4-0 engine built by Maffei of Germany in 1925, now named Sid, is owned by several L&B members, and is also sometimes used on the L&B steam service.
  The Trust owns three industrial diesel engines. One of these - Heddon Hall - is some times used in place of the steam engines, and for engineering trains.
  A number of other visiting diesel and steam engines have also seen service on the line.
caption: Laying track, Woody Bay, 2003
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