Ow brilliant used to love this and biking butler only just found this lovely to see this again!! Tony a great loss

Must have cost Ilfracombe tens of millions in lost revenue over the decades as not everyone drives a car or can afford to run a car, oil is going to become more and more expensive due to global instability so these small town with become further cut off.

No so much on yer bike as on yer boat! RIP Tony Butler.

Great stuff.

Thanks for memories was around there 70 years ago flying a kite on Woolacombe or Ilfracombe beach.

They will have to build a new station at ifracombe

On yet Boat Tone!! RIP

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.

Thank you so much for these. God bless Tony Butler, and thank you for the commentary, fun and entertainment over the years. RIP Tone.

Sad

would any one know the type or class of the DMU in this film, thanks

Much better times. Sad to see the demise of it all

Excellent archive, the closure by transport minister Peyton, (product of Eton), was such a waste of a valuable asset, even with the onslaught of the private car and the powerful Road haulage association there was a justifiable case to be made for the retention of this line, if only for freight and parcel traffic.

Thank you for sharing this film, we are indebted to your father for his insight and time for making this excellent archive, what an asset this line would be today if it had survived.

Watched Parts 1 & 2 Many Times Marvellous Forthought from the Film Maker & Narrator.... Never Had the Opportunity to Travel on the Ilfracombe Railway Line...

I can relate to The Bank at 1:30. The reopened Borders ex Waverley route to Tweedbank has some pretty steep sections, many in double figures. I think I saw 1:60's. The 30 ( 30 1/4?) miles are timed at about 56 mins. It's a slow grind and you could feel the train struggle. Very scenic and well worth doing.

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...

I've cycled up "the bank" many times. Cycling down it is a breeze! But I'd far rather it was still a railway line. Thank you for this fascinating video.

Great Fim & Narration, I only Wish I Had Taken a Trip on the Line Particularly between Ilfracombe & Braunton.

Fabulous insight into the Ilfracombe Railway.

Narrated by Victor Thompson...

Narrated by Victor Thompson...

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...

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...

Actually a beautiful piece of film!!

Those were the days 🎵🎶my friend🎶🎵 We thought they'd never end🎵🎵

Fantastic! I remember visiting just after its closure. Thank you!

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.

As with Brexit and Covid and Iraq and ..., the government are adept at acting in haste, and repenting at our leisure.

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.

Beautiful bridge!!!!

R.I.P.

Well crafted film , well done Mr Thompson.

In steam didn’t they double head trains for the gradients.?

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.

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.

There you are Thanks very much, what's this it's a window sticker that says we've been to Ilfracombe. Harry worth comedy clip from the audio only episode one for the road

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.

Beeching gutted Devon and Cornwall of railways, giving it over to the gods of petroleum and their blessed motor car.

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

Harry worth comedy clip. There you are, thanks very much, what's this, it's a window sticker that says we've been to Ilfracombe

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

Is all British raIl left-running?

I have travelled on that line both ways way back in 1959. I was in the Boys Brigade and we went to Combe Martin for a 2 week holiday... Happy days, now alas like the railway long gone...

Freight service.

Closed and destroyed by short sighted politics

"Power without soul - and Ah knaws of nothin' worse". Could he have known even then about Theresa May?

Wonderful! Thank you, Craig.

Great to see this available on KZbin and to see that so many folks have watched it, my father made this documentary just before the line closed, those are his dulcit tones narrating the soundtrack. We had a lot of fun filing this, including several high speed chases following the train down the A361......

Brilliant! Never seen the inside of the goods shed or the signal box before.