Home Sale Could Hit The Buffers Over Talk Of Re-Opening Devon Railway

[RDW]

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Home-sale-hit-buffers-talk-opening-Devon-railway/story-20622236-detail/story.html#ixzz2tIxg0IXT

A man who lives in a former train station claims he will not be able sell up because of talk of re-opening the disused railway following the major collapse at Dawlish.

Eric Rhodes, 67, lives a former station master's house which is still flanked by the old railway platform.

Pretty Brentor Railway Station was transformed into a three-bedroom dwelling and garden when the Southwestern Junction Line was closed in 1968 under the Beeching cuts.

[Venger]

Eric snapped up the Victorian station house near Tavistock, Devon, 19 years ago to realise a lifelong dream of living beside a railway track.

Guess it's too much to hope our Property Ladder friends who opened that B&B Railway Station would be affected.

[Venger]

Sorry..

Just surprised to find that Property-Ladder episode.. the property came back to market recently.

http://www.rightmove...y-36906479.html

Not sure if they managed to sell it on. Didn't look like any sort of life to me, running a higher-end B&B into retirement.

They bought it for £200K. http://www.rightmove...country=england

Edit: It's still for sale if you search postcode as in above link; as a whole, or maybe in separate units too.

2009.

http://www.thisiscor...tail/story.html

Edited February 14, 2014 by Venger

[juvenal]

Sorry..

Just surprised to find that Property-Ladder episode.. the property came back to market recently.

http://www.rightmove...y-36906479.html

Not sure if they managed to sell it on. Didn't look like any sort of life to me, running a higher-end B&B into retirement.

They bought it for £200K. http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=27977658&sale=26440769&country=england

2009.

http://www.thisiscor...tail/story.html

BTL folk...

The couple originally bought the station to add to their property portfolio of more than nine buy-to-let flats and houses around the country, but when the credit crunch hit, they had to consider an alternative use for the property.

They decided to turn it into three up-market holiday cottages, called Old Tavistock Railway Cottages.

[The Ayatollah Buggeri]

Quite apart from the station houses (and other properties built on the old trackbed that would have to be demolished, presumably), the proposal to open this line strikes me as insane. I lived in Exeter for three years, and so know this area a little bit. That line went right across the top of Dartmoor. The equivalent roads are blocked by snow, high winds and sheep very frequently. Turning on the radio and hearing the ritual "don't go there unless your journey is really necessary" lecture from Plod was a frequent ritual during the Devon winters. I'm guessing that the existing coastal line was the one Beeching decided not to close because under normal circumstances it's the most reliable and least likely to be closed by bad weather. I'd be interested to see figures as to how frequently there were delays and temporary closures on the Dartmoor line when it was operating - a lot more than on the coastal one, I'd guess. Furthermore, the Dartmoor line does not go through any significant centres of population, except Okehampton. So if you reopened that and closed the coastal route, the English Riviera towns, Totnes and Newton Abbot would all lose their rail service.

[onlooker]

Quite apart from the station houses (and other properties built on the old trackbed that would have to be demolished, presumably), the proposal to open this line strikes me as insane. I lived in Exeter for three years, and so know this area a little bit. That line went right across the top of Dartmoor. The equivalent roads are blocked by snow, high winds and sheep very frequently. Turning on the radio and hearing the ritual "don't go there unless your journey is really necessary" lecture from Plod was a frequent ritual during the Devon winters. I'm guessing that the existing coastal line was the one Beeching decided not to close because under normal circumstances it's the most reliable and least likely to be closed by bad weather. I'd be interested to see figures as to how frequently there were delays and temporary closures on the Dartmoor line when it was operating - a lot more than on the coastal one, I'd guess. Furthermore, the Dartmoor line does not go through any significant centres of population, except Okehampton. So if you reopened that and closed the coastal route, the English Riviera towns, Totnes and Newton Abbot would all lose their rail service.

I thought the old Southern Railway line skirted the NW side of Dartmoor, and I'm not sure it was ever blocked by snow. With global warming, snow will just be a thing of the past anyway. Beeching chose the Dawlish route to remain open because he was influenced by old Great Western hands in his office, plus the GWR from Exeter to London is shorter and more easily graded.

Dawlish was breached because (as you can see from the recent photos) that short length of sea wall has never been strengthened since Brunel built it. Somebody has some explaining to do. I am sure it will be infinitely cheaper to rebuild the Dawlish sea wall, than reopen 50 miles of abandoned railway, so I don't see the Southern route ever being reinstated.

[interestrateripoff]

Quite apart from the station houses (and other properties built on the old trackbed that would have to be demolished, presumably), the proposal to open this line strikes me as insane. I lived in Exeter for three years, and so know this area a little bit. That line went right across the top of Dartmoor. The equivalent roads are blocked by snow, high winds and sheep very frequently. Turning on the radio and hearing the ritual "don't go there unless your journey is really necessary" lecture from Plod was a frequent ritual during the Devon winters. I'm guessing that the existing coastal line was the one Beeching decided not to close because under normal circumstances it's the most reliable and least likely to be closed by bad weather. I'd be interested to see figures as to how frequently there were delays and temporary closures on the Dartmoor line when it was operating - a lot more than on the coastal one, I'd guess. Furthermore, the Dartmoor line does not go through any significant centres of population, except Okehampton. So if you reopened that and closed the coastal route, the English Riviera towns, Totnes and Newton Abbot would all lose their rail service.

Luckily it's been raining so that won't be an issue.

[porca misèria]

There seems to be a lot of confusion in this thread.

The original story is about a house at Brentor. Subsequent posts are about the old station at Tavistock, which has seen various uses, and has fairly recently been converted to three houses at asking prices in the £250-300k ballpark. Two entirely different places.

The latter won't be affected by a new line, as a new site is earmarked for the new station in Tavistock. But if the line is restored, I'd suspect it's likely to follow the existing course through Brentor rather than build from scratch.

The railway cottages at Brentor are indeed a lovely location, though I've not seen the insides (nor any that would merit anything remotely like the kind of price suggested). If I lived there I'd be campaigning for a station and at least a few trains to stop there!

[porca misèria]

Quite apart from the station houses (and other properties built on the old trackbed that would have to be demolished, presumably), the proposal to open this line strikes me as insane. I lived in Exeter for three years, and so know this area a little bit. That line went right across the top of Dartmoor.

Not across the top: rather North and West of it.

The equivalent roads are blocked by snow, high winds and sheep very frequently.

The "equivalent" roads are the A30 and A386, and are not closed by weather even when we had a couple of winters recently.

Turning on the radio and hearing the ritual "don't go there unless your journey is really necessary" lecture from Plod was a frequent ritual during the Devon winters.

The genuine moorland roads are an entirely different kettle of fish, but even those are rarely closed.

I'm guessing that the existing coastal line was the one Beeching decided not to close because under normal circumstances it's the most reliable and least likely to be closed by bad weather.

As I understand it, Beeching actually recommended keeping the inland line, but was overruled by vested interests.

I'd be interested to see figures as to how frequently there were delays and temporary closures on the Dartmoor line when it was operating - a lot more than on the coastal one, I'd guess. Furthermore, the Dartmoor line does not go through any significant centres of population, except Okehampton. So if you reopened that and closed the coastal route, the English Riviera towns, Totnes and Newton Abbot would all lose their rail service.

Tavistock and Okehampton are not insignificant.

[Venger]

There seems to be a lot of confusion in this thread.

The original story is about a house at Brentor. Subsequent posts are about the old station at Tavistock, which has seen various uses, and has fairly recently been converted to three houses at asking prices in the £250-300k ballpark. Two entirely different places.

The latter won't be affected by a new line, as a new site is earmarked for the new station in Tavistock. But if the line is restored, I'd suspect it's likely to follow the existing course through Brentor rather than build from scratch.

The connection to the Property-Ladder tv show of 2009 (big thread which many of us followed) was irresistible a connection to not put up. I seem to remember they got over-extended when the crunch came, and the show said they had to sell their own home sharpish, and maybe some of the BTLs.

When to me they had a life of easy-going and luxury holidays for themselves... to trade for all the energy and work that needs to be put into running such a B&B full time.

Although I admit to not knowing if it could possibly be affected by any reopening of the line.

Then to find they're trying to sell up...

The old station at Tavistock is on Wikipedia here and here and the info there left open possibilities for proposals into the future, but I don't really know anything about the area, or the tracks and connections at all.

[Venger]

So if you reopened that and closed the coastal route, the English Riviera towns, Totnes and Newton Abbot would all lose their rail service.

Would that really be a big deal? Areas change.

And train fares make me gasp sometimes, beyond where I have to travel.

Although all I know about Totnes was it was where Tuckenhay, near Totnes, where Mr.Blain was trying to sell that house by the water for millions and millions of pounds. And research I did on a house in Newton Abbot they were trying to sell for £4m, the house was described to me as a "trap of cold."

Westcountry towns feature in financial distress top ten

February 14, 2014Newton Abbot and Torquay feature in a list of the top ten UK towns with the highest levels of business distress.

According to insolvency experts Begbies Traynor, 12.23% of the businesses in Newton Abbot and 11.54% in Torquay faced severe financial difficulty in the last quarter of 2013.

...Julie Palmer, regional managing partner for Begbies Traynor in the South West, said: “Our research highlights the challenges facing coastal towns such as Weymouth and the broader South West region, which rely heavily on tourism and agriculture, even before the devastating effects of the recent severe weather.

Businesses in this region, which are already vulnerable during the winter months due to lower visitor numbers and therefore reduced local spending power, now face the immediate challenge of dealing with further business disruption from the damaging effects of bad weather and incessant flooding.

“Without a rapid increase in inward investment, to help the region diversify away from tourism and agriculture, and investment in infrastructure to improve the region’s accessibility and ease of doing business, we fear significant growth in the number of business failures in the region over the coming years.”

[porca misèria]

The old station at Tavistock is on Wikipedia here and here and the info there left open possibilities for proposals into the future, but I don't really know anything about the area, or the tracks and connections at all.

But this story has nothing to do with either of the old Tavistock stations. It's the old station at Brentor, which is here.

The station you're talking about is entirely different: it was recently converted to several units by a developer, and can be found here.

Edited February 15, 2014 by porca misèria

[SarahBell]

Hasn't Dawlish had some more storms which took out the containers loaded with ballast which were welded together?

[Harry Monk]

A man who lives in a former train station

Do they mean a railway station?

[@contradevian]

choo choo choo, welcome to the trainline!

One doubts there is any real risk of this line opening. And this is just another ho moanerz hard luck story in the press trying to drum up some attention.

Boo hoo.

Edited February 15, 2014 by aSecureTenant