Thread by @GarethDennis

I'm on my holidays but have nipped off on some brief #PointlessPerambulations to look at the rather unique and squeezed-in former railways in Barnstaple...

Here's what it looked like! It was properly squished in next to the old Barnstaple Bridge, popping out over the muddy Taw at around 90° and joining the other bank almost parallel to the river. #PointlessPerambulations

And here's the real thing from above!

Ah, I see @CleveBridgeUK have been at it again! #PointlessPerambulations

There are lots of signs of precisely where the railway bridge sat above the Taw, as I point out here with my waggly finger: #PointlessPerambulations

The new development on the south banks of the river has given a better vantage point to see all that remains of the railway structure... Just this stone arch, with engineers' blue brick and a few sleepers still on top. #PointlessPerambulations

Obviously the railway link between the extant Barnstaple Junction station and the bridge has been replaced - only as recently as the mid-2000s - by a pointless urban dual carriageway. #PointlessPerambulations

Shout-out to the ever-excellent @natlibscotmaps team 😘

1️⃣ The end of the old bridge.

2️⃣ Where I'm stood now, with a stupid dual carriageway on top of the old railway alignment.

3️⃣ The current Barnstaple station.

In the map above you can see a segment of the former alignment remains largely unscathed, and here is me stood on it and rabbiting on about somesuch: #PointlessPerambulations

Here's the view trains might have had making their way round the curve into Barnstaple Junction... Minus a few trees. #PointlessPerambulations

Obviously the last bit is now a car park, but at least car parks can be dug up 👑 #PointlessPerambulations

All of this means that Barnstaple, a town with a wider built up area population of over 46k people, has little more than a rural halt for a station. And don't get me started on the replacement of the main line with the A361 link road. #PointlessPerambulations

Oh, point to note... Up top I was talking about the original Barnstaple Quay station. Once the L&B (@woody_bay) opened, they part funded a new station which was located further towards the River Rolle.

Unlike the original, the "new" Town station (and box) still mostly remains!

Anyway, that's that for now, but I might be topping this up later in the week! #PointlessPerambulations

Oh, and watch this entirely unrelated #RailNatter tonight!