A hundred years ago today, the last trains ran on the Bideford, Westward Ho! & Appledore Railway: some fame here concerning the only railway, and community -- certainly in Britain -- with title including an exclamation mark.
This was in various ways, a fascinatingly odd line (in a picturesque corner of the country) -- and one of Britains shortest-lived. Standard gauge, but never physically connected with the rest of Great Britains rail system -- its focus, the town of Bideford in North Devon; whose station on the London & South Western Railways network was on the opposite side of the broad river Torridge, from the town. The B WH! & AR was largely steam-tramway-like; but for very much the most part, running on its own reservation -- rails-set-in-street only at the Bideford terminus end. Its coaches were of a commodious saloon type with end-balcony access, on the American pattern. Its physical isolation meant that its freight-traffic role was virtually nil.
The lines maximum extent was slightly over seven miles; running west from Bideford to the coast, and the seaside resort of Westward Ho!; then north-eastward back to the Torridge at Appledore. This configuration, and the chosen timetables, meant that the line was of little use for commuting-for-work: it was overwhelmingly tourism-oriented. The majority of the route, Bideford -- Westward Ho! -- Northam, was opened in 1901; the couple of miles onward Northam to Appledore, in 1908.
The immediate cause of the lines demise, was the First World War: in the course of which various marginal British railway operations were, by Government fiat, made to withdraw their services in the interests of financial economising and / or providing rail material for use on the Western Front. The B WH! & A was thus requisitioned in early 1917 for war service, by the Ministry of Munitions: its last timetabled trains ran on March 28th 1917. The railways ultimate owners, the British Electric Traction Company, had found it far less of a money-spinner than had been originally hoped; and were seemingly not sorry that the fortunes of war rid them of it.
The lines three Hunslet 2-4-2T locomotives were promptly dispatched off to where they could be of use; the rails were lifted shortly afterward, and similarly sent away. One of the locos went into industrial service at Avonmouth, where she worked for different owners until scrapping in 1937. The other two are reckoned (long with slight uncertainties, but location of sunken ship concerned, is said now to have been determined) to have been embarked to go to France for war service; but the ship which they were on was sunk by a German submarine, off Britains south-west peninsula.
Even if there had been no First World War; or if war notwithstanding, the B WH! & A had not been called to the colours; it appears unlikely that the railway would have lasted far into the 1920s -- one of many instances of, if people had had foreknowledge of how soon and how quickly, road motor transport would appear and blossom; numerous light railways inaugurated around the turn of the 19th / 20th centuries, would never have come to be. As above -- the lines actual owners were, it seems, glad to get shot of it in 1917. A crazily short life -- sixteen years; or for the final mile or two, nine years. Lucky the century-ago line-basher, who managed to get this one in the bag !
As I may have speculated elsewhere on the forum -- imaginable faintly- and hardly-to-be hoped-for long-term survival in some sort, for this line: shortly after World War 1, Captain John Howey and Count Louis Zborowski were seeking for a venue in England, for a meaningful serving-the-public 15 in. gauge line, à la the Ravenglass & Eskdale up north. They toyed with ideas for totally new routes; and for taking-over and gauge-narrowing of existing but sickly railways (they thought in this context, of Colonel Stephenss Chichester -- Selsey line, but that came to nothing). One can speculate: did they have thoughts of this kind, concerning the abandoned B WH! & A? (its trackbed then presumably still intact or virtually so) -- or similarly for an alternative early-1920s scenario with the B WH! & A still running, but in dire straits and expected to close at any time? The answer would seem, well never know -- just that in the end, the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch is what happened.
This was in various ways, a fascinatingly odd line (in a picturesque corner of the country) -- and one of Britains shortest-lived. Standard gauge, but never physically connected with the rest of Great Britains rail system -- its focus, the town of Bideford in North Devon; whose station on the London & South Western Railways network was on the opposite side of the broad river Torridge, from the town. The B WH! & AR was largely steam-tramway-like; but for very much the most part, running on its own reservation -- rails-set-in-street only at the Bideford terminus end. Its coaches were of a commodious saloon type with end-balcony access, on the American pattern. Its physical isolation meant that its freight-traffic role was virtually nil.
The lines maximum extent was slightly over seven miles; running west from Bideford to the coast, and the seaside resort of Westward Ho!; then north-eastward back to the Torridge at Appledore. This configuration, and the chosen timetables, meant that the line was of little use for commuting-for-work: it was overwhelmingly tourism-oriented. The majority of the route, Bideford -- Westward Ho! -- Northam, was opened in 1901; the couple of miles onward Northam to Appledore, in 1908.
The immediate cause of the lines demise, was the First World War: in the course of which various marginal British railway operations were, by Government fiat, made to withdraw their services in the interests of financial economising and / or providing rail material for use on the Western Front. The B WH! & A was thus requisitioned in early 1917 for war service, by the Ministry of Munitions: its last timetabled trains ran on March 28th 1917. The railways ultimate owners, the British Electric Traction Company, had found it far less of a money-spinner than had been originally hoped; and were seemingly not sorry that the fortunes of war rid them of it.
The lines three Hunslet 2-4-2T locomotives were promptly dispatched off to where they could be of use; the rails were lifted shortly afterward, and similarly sent away. One of the locos went into industrial service at Avonmouth, where she worked for different owners until scrapping in 1937. The other two are reckoned (long with slight uncertainties, but location of sunken ship concerned, is said now to have been determined) to have been embarked to go to France for war service; but the ship which they were on was sunk by a German submarine, off Britains south-west peninsula.
Even if there had been no First World War; or if war notwithstanding, the B WH! & A had not been called to the colours; it appears unlikely that the railway would have lasted far into the 1920s -- one of many instances of, if people had had foreknowledge of how soon and how quickly, road motor transport would appear and blossom; numerous light railways inaugurated around the turn of the 19th / 20th centuries, would never have come to be. As above -- the lines actual owners were, it seems, glad to get shot of it in 1917. A crazily short life -- sixteen years; or for the final mile or two, nine years. Lucky the century-ago line-basher, who managed to get this one in the bag !
As I may have speculated elsewhere on the forum -- imaginable faintly- and hardly-to-be hoped-for long-term survival in some sort, for this line: shortly after World War 1, Captain John Howey and Count Louis Zborowski were seeking for a venue in England, for a meaningful serving-the-public 15 in. gauge line, à la the Ravenglass & Eskdale up north. They toyed with ideas for totally new routes; and for taking-over and gauge-narrowing of existing but sickly railways (they thought in this context, of Colonel Stephenss Chichester -- Selsey line, but that came to nothing). One can speculate: did they have thoughts of this kind, concerning the abandoned B WH! & A? (its trackbed then presumably still intact or virtually so) -- or similarly for an alternative early-1920s scenario with the B WH! & A still running, but in dire straits and expected to close at any time? The answer would seem, well never know -- just that in the end, the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch is what happened.