Could the railway return to Bude? ‘Nothing is impossible,’ packed meeting is told
The meeting at Bude, at which over 100 people attended.Could the railway return to Bude? “Nothing is impossible,” a public meeting heard last week, 50 years after the closure of the town’s train station.More than 100 people packed into the hall at the Parkhouse Centre on Saturday. The meeting had to be moved from one of the smaller rooms because of the number of people attending.
The meeting was organised by Richard Wolfenden-Brown. He wrote and directed Bude Youth Theatre’s production ‘The Last Train to Bude…?’, which was performed in March.
At the time he asked audience members to take part in a ‘just for fun’ referendum, asking people to fill in forms as to whether they would like to see the railway line to Bude re-opened. Everyone who had filled in a form said yes, which led to Mr Wolfenden-Brown to organise the public meeting, 50 years after the town’s train station closed — in October 1966.
Mr Wolfenden-Brown told the meeting: “Goldsworthy Gurney’s inventions in steam were key in the developments of the railway. It seems deeply ironic that we are left without a railway and I would like to put this right. The railway started when Goldsworthy Gurney called a meeting in Stratton in 1844. He thought it’d be great to have one in Bude. He never lived to see it happen.”
Holsworthy’s railway station opened in 1879, and the meeting heard there were ‘arguments’ for 19 years, before Bude’s railway station was opened in 1898.
Mr Wolfenden-Brown added: “It thrived for 68 years,” but said an increase in car use eventually led to people ‘using trains less’.
He said 4,500 miles of track were closed around the country, but added: “Things are different now. Ten per cent of journeys are now by rail, which is more than in the ‘60s. It’s growing and economically, culturally and socially for education, leisure and pleasure, people need trains to get around. It’s green and just makes sense in so many ways. It’s such a shame Bude lost its station.”
He said if the rail line to Okehampton re-opens, for Bude to see the return of rail: “Yeah we might have to knock down a Waitrose, but it’s possible. Sometimes for the greater good, things need to happen that aren’t going to suit everybody.”
He suggested a steering group could be created, joking ‘no pain, no train’, adding: “With effort great things can happen. It probably won’t happen in my lifetime but it’s about the children for the future and their families. Luckily we live in a democracy. If we’ve got the will of the people, nothing is impossible.”
Michael Ireland from Okehampton told the meeting he is involved with OkeRail, and said the group has worked locally with Bude-Stratton Town Council. He said: “Yes there is the will here and people here with the expertise,” and suggested a group should be formed to liaise with OkeRail.
A representative of Bude-Stratton Town Council said it has worked also with Okehampton Town Council, and Holsworthy Town Council is also involved. He added: “We do echo the views that have been expressed today. A lot of stuff goes on behind the scenes that perhaps people don’t know about.”
Richard Proctor, from Okehampton, said he travelled on the summer rail Sunday service between Exeter and Okehampton this year, travelling on all but one of the services, and interviewing every passenger, ‘to find out if they would want a daily service’.
He said: “The response was incredible. We asked people where they live. Seventy-one per cent came from what we call the Okehampton catchment area that includes West Devon, Torridge, Mid Devon and North and East Cornwall. Fifteen per cent of people made the journey from North Cornwall to ride to Exeter on a Sunday. They carried altogether 7,500 people on the Sunday rover. Not one said they wouldn’t be interested if the train came back.”
North Cornwall’s Conservative
MP▸ Scott Mann, who held a morning surgery at the Parkhouse Centre, gave his support before heading off to another engagement in the constituency.
He said he and other MPs ‘have been speaking in Parliament about the Okehampton link’, adding: “It’s not just the need of getting from one place to another, it’s also about building that economic development of transport.”
One member of the public from Kilkhampton said: “I feel it would be wonderful to have a train service here. The holidaymakers travel by train to Exeter. When they get here by bus they have no other way of travelling around to other towns and beautiful places.”
Recounting a recent experience, she added: “A bus broke down at Halwill, for two and a half hours. Five people missed their flights and three people missed their cinema seats, which had been paid for. There were no taxis — they were all booked.”
Another member of the public said: “I grew up in the North West. I was in the North West last summer. There are lots of branch lines and it’s a joy to use them. It’s such a shame the branch lines have been stripped out and I think we should do all we can to bring them back.”
Malcolm Mitchell from Marhamchurch said: “I find it obscene billions are being spent on
HS2▸ ,” and that, in comparison: “It would cost a pittance to do what you want to do to get to Okehampton and beyond.”
The meeting also heard members of the public share their views that rail transport is important for medical reasons, to enable people to get to hospital appointments, and another said: “Education is really important. We’ve got kids going to college spending one and a half hours on the bus. They would have more options when they get to the end of 5th form [if they could travel by train].”
Mr Wolfenden-Brown said he had received an email from a young woman who studies at college in Truro, saying she finds the travel ‘very difficult’.
He said prior to the meeting he had also received an email from the secretary of the town’s chamber of trade, expressing their support.
Mr Wolfenden-Brown asked for some comments from younger people at the meeting. Mark Rosser, originally from Billericay, in Essex, said his father takes the bus from Bude to Exeter to catch the train for work. He added: “It would be so much easier for people that do work outside of Cornwall to get to different places. I’m a glass collector at the Brendon Arms. It was busy in Bude in the summer. Imagine how much increase in tourism all of Cornwall would get if people could just get on the train — it would be brilliant.”
However, some questioned the cost and likelihood of rail transport returning to Bude.
Tony Webb, of Bude, said he used to attend boarding school in the 1950s, adding: “I was never let down by the trains as a blind person,” but questioned whether it was realistic to think the railway could return to Bude. “Putting rails back down would cost a fortune,” he said.
Tony Hill of the
Tarka▸ Rail Association and OkeRail said he thought the amount of interest was ‘fantastic’, but said: “It’s 28 miles from Meldon to Bude. Sourton Parkway is they key jewel that would serve a huge area. Ultimately, Sourton Parkway is the place to serve North Cornwall and West Devon. It would be lovely to see the line here but realistically North Cornwall is very sparsely populated.”
Those interested in being kept up to date were asked to leave their contact details on a form, and someone also suggested a Facebook page should be created to keep people up to date.
There is a consultation meeting about the re-opening of the line as far as Okehampton on Saturday, November 12, from 9am to 1pm at Charter Hall, Okehampton, displaying work carried out so far to try and get the service back up and running.
