Ryan's World of Nonsense

Bideford Railway Heritage Centre I was up in Barnstaple back in May 2025 as I was on the gorgeous Tarka Line (or the North Devon Line). It's been a railway line that I've been wanting to go on since my first year in Exeter and finally, I've got a chance to do so. In this post, you'll be joining me on this trip up north to explore North Devon's lost railways.  Tarka Line Map (Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=108960715) The Tarka line runs between Exeter and Barnstaple, serving various towns and villages in between, notably Crediton and Eggesford. It also serves a pub (Portsmouth Arms) and the middle of nowhere (Kings Nympton, with the village miles away from itself). A number of stops on this line are request stops, which means you need to notify the guard specifically if you want to get off, or flag down the driver if you want to get on, like hailing a bus) 158951 takes me to Barnstaple Shoutout to St David's Starbucks for calling me Brian...

HSTs at Plymouth Station Great Western Railway (GWR)’s High Speed Trains (HST) performed their final scheduled passenger service on December 13th, 2025. I was lucky enough to be there to witness one of those last journeys and say goodbye to the legend of Britian's railways. In this post, I’m taking you along for the ride on the legendary HST, so do grab yourselves a cookie, settle in, and enjoy the journey. The first production Class 43 HST Power Car 43002 (Credit: Geof Sheppard) For those of you who don't know what the HST is, here's a quick history recap on these machines: The HSTs, or the Inter-City 125 train sets, were actually built as a "stop-gap" while the APT (Advanced Passenger Train) project faced significant technical delays. While the APT was a clean-sheet design meant to revolutionise travel on the West Coast Main Line (London to Scotland via West Midlands) with its advanced gas turbines and tilting technology. Its high complexity meant it wouldn'...