North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion

https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2023/0...tKKOfUwmSN-iiGx0Otob6S7C0O8f5opf5iCcdcL--Y43U

Chris Price is leaving the NYMR for the tank museum in Dorset.

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44806 basking in the September sunshine this afternoon after being reconnected to her tender

 

...... but will it be ready for the gala? will be the question everyone will be wondering! In steam and moving around at Grosmont, but not ready to pull a train till the last afternoon, perhaps?

 

Simple answer is no

 

Probably not bad news for them considering the continual financial loses that they have made under him

 

You mean by trying to run full trains and not carting around loads of fresh air?

 

Sham, but predictable, I guess.

 

To be fair, he has a large backing of paid staff, so the financial performance should really be credited as a team effort!

 

You got the impression from the tv program that the paid staff where in a way fearful of him, there where a few little comments in respect to the boss which gave this impression.

 

So because they weren't throwing North Korean levels of deference to the boss, hes the most hated figure on the railway who rules with an iron fist? And now, the weather from a talking oven glove with a face on it.

 

He was GM at Fairbourne when I first started volunteering there some years ago. All I can say is that in my experience, he was a pleasure to work with.

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Still pops up in the occasional YouTube video on the Talylyn as well. (Still volunteers there I believe?) Occasionally shows up on here too.

I’d be careful with a comment like that how do any of us know how things have edited?

For example, We have a certain chef not to far from my location who’s TV persona is apparently nothing like what he’s like when he’s out of the kitchen. It’s all been contrived to make him look a certain way.

 

True, anyone who has anything to do with anything being made for TV should know that everything you see should be treated with a large amount of scepticism!

I have been critical of his time at the NYMR in many ways, but it all boils down to the fact that I don't think he has a real feel for the heritage of the railway and does not seem to have stressed it as part of his regime. Of course that's not just down to him, and the former chairman is equally culpable, but there has definitely been a trend of turning it more into a P&DSR-type operation, but as he came from the TR which has a strong heritage culture I for one had hoped for better. The NYMR deserves to be better than being a bland BR era "heritage railway" where there is little or no emphasis on its roots. There are signs of a half-hearted shift towards it becoming a "living museum" but I rather think that's more "bandwagon jumping" in search of grant money than a genuine attempt to upgrade the offering to the public - but this is probably not the right place for that debate!

 

I wouldn’t necessarily be critical of Mr Price, he’s only doing what those in charge have asked of him.

FWIW whilst I’ve been critical about a certain former Tank Museum boss who buggered off from one of the railways I support earlier this year.
Inept as they were there’s still a few board members that I’d like to see replaced as they still continued to back the wrong horse despite the screens being put round and the shotgun being loaded.
I’m guessing you’re feeling the same about the NYMR?

 

I believe he is currently their President or a similar largely Ceremonial but significant role?

I get the impression that, when wearing his GM or HRA Vice President hats, he is first and foremost a pragmatist. That isn’t necessarily a criticism, just an observation.

That said, when they do Galas, they do them well. Although I’ve got to confess I am a bit disappointed by the lineup for the Autumn Steam Gala - a standard 4, of which there are two in different forms already on the line with another two under overhaul, and a 9F, another class already represented. The Caley 2P is a great choice tho, and Gresley is always welcome back.

I’d have expected visitors a bit more different to their home fleet - a Merchant Navy maybe, or Jubilee, or even an Austerity as a nod back to their roots. Though at least it isn’t yet another Swindon 4-6-0.

That said, a WD 2-8-0 or 2-10-0 would have been ideal but I don’t think there’s one active at present!

 

I'm not wholly critical of Chris, I agree he's a pragmatist and he certainly brought about some much-needed changes in parts of the railway, and more much of his tenure he had to work with a Trust Chairman who appears to have no feel or interest in developing the heritage aspects of the railway versus making it ever more a tourist attraction. The irony is that the new buzzword is that of developing it as a "living heritage museum" without there being much clue of what that might entail to do a decent job of it. It's an even greater irony that this is being done in pursuit of grant money and that after years of assuming that steam engines and Mk 1s are sufficient to represent "heritage" no-one seems to have appreciated that heritage is the main part off the attraction and the more of it that is on offer the better it can be sold! Coming to the NYMR from a line so steeped in heritage it is amazing that he seems to have missed that. It's not just those two that are the problem, though, so I just hope that the new, incoming broom, will sweep clean. Trouble is, whoever it is will probably arrive too late to have much effect on the approach to next season.

 

In any field of management everybody thinks they can do better than "The Boss", and it can be a very lonely place. Running an organisation that includes a significant number of volunteers as well as paid staff must be akin to herding cats - all the time being "backed" by a board of variable quality and understanding.
I have no idea of the circumstances of Chris's move, but I wish him well. He was certainly missed at the TR.

 

The armchair enthusiasts Kryptonite. I'm sure he has to ponder some difficult decisions in such a large and complex operation such as NYMR that don't suit those that think running trains is just turning up and seeing what happens as long as every steam locomotive is running.

 

Which is why, like @61624, the role of those who appointed him and set the direction for him to follow also needs to be considered carefully.

 

Trouble is what is Heritage to one person is not to another.
Steam and Mk1's (or a Bulleid) or an 02 on some non Mk1's on the I.O.W. is heritage to me because that is what I remember from my childhood. Whilst from a railway enthusiast perspective older loco and stock is indeed also heritage and I enjoy it, it does not have the same impact on me. I wonder how many people view a "living heritage museum" in the same way you obviously do.If many do not then it really does not matter either, unless you are trying to run a commercially successful business, in which case the thing you do not like may actually be the thing that makes money.