North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion

D7628 being repaired ?
Does that mean the generator is out ,sent away and the work been approved to be carried out …or loco dumped OOS next to D5061…?

 

2392 has been up and down the hill today in preparation for heading away on Friday to Shildon

 

Along with 63395 although I don’t believe it’s fully back together yet.

 

I don’t think anything is happening to it at the moment but would be pleased to hear that’s not the case.

 

Was this afternoon when I left work, just a few final pieces of cladding to fit

 

Has the valve gear been fitted, then?

 

How are passenger numbers bearing up during the steam moratorium? Will NYMR offer reduced fares to tempt people to travel?

I saw mainline steam at Darlington on Friday, can the Whitby section be steam hauled?

Half term week after the BH sees the line shut for two days. Is this wise?

 

Closure reason fully explained in the excellent Moorsline no 226, the Spring edition, sustainability being the key.

 

Tell us more. I’m fascinated at how sustainability is achieved by closing in a Bank Holdiay week.

 

Whatever spurious reason is given this bewildering decision at one of the potentially busiest times of the year,, it is perhaps more concerning that the SMT's collective madness (or is it spinelessness in collectively resisting the suggestion?) is becoming infectious elsewhere if this reply is not a facetious one:

"Closure reason fully explained in the excellent Moorsline no 226, the Spring edition, sustainability being the key."

I'd like to think it is facetious, but I can only hope it is!

 

A while back I received this in an e-mail from someone in the know: “The reduction to a 5 day week is not in response to demand or as a realistic cost cutting exercise, it is to reduce the pressure on the structures, track and stock to a level where it might scrape through.” Even so, I would think that this shouldn’t justify shutting on one of the busiest weeks of the year.

 

I can’t bring myself to “like” this, even though it shines a bright light on the true condition of the railway.

 

If this really is true, it is a searing indictment of at least he last 10 years of management. If so many aspects of the railway are getting - have been allowed to get - close to the of collapse, why have we not been told, and why are there no reported plans to rectify the situation? Where, more exactly , do the problems lie? It was worrying enough that it was looking close to financial collapse, but adding potential engineering failure to that as well now makes it terrifying as well. It sounds like the need for multi-millions in investment is needed to stave off disaster, and to be carried out in most engineering functions pretty urgently, and it's hard to see where that investment is likely to come from.

Now is the time to be rallying its enthusiast supporters, not pushing them away.

 

Is this the sort of stuff the NYMR Foundation money is meant to be used for? (Is it still going - I don't recall seeing much promotion of it or encouraging people to sign up in recent issues of Moors Line.)

 

Still going but I don’t think it’s intention is to pay for the day today maintenance and operations.

 

We visited Keighley on Saturday afternoon and took a quick trip to Oxenhope and back.

Trains were full, platforms were full, all stations alive with period reenactors, music, displays, food etc.

Having done many steam and diesel galas at KWVR, it was the busiest I have ever seen it, with people being counted in and out of coaches for capacity.

Must have been a huge success for the railway with little expense I imagine to put on.

We visited NYMR yesterday, the place and trains were very, very quiet.

Staff were heard saying they might as well be closed on Sundays, having passed the Moorlander I have never seen so many empty seats.

A couple who boarded the 1210 were very sad learn of no steam, yes on the website, but no mention of it by the booking office prior to boarding, if known they would not have travelled.

Staff heard saying if we advertise it on the stations before people buy tickets, even less people will travel.

 

With a bit of digging round the website, I eventually found it mentioned at https://www.nymr.co.uk/pages/category/regular-giving

It states that:
Regular donations are vital to help give us financial security and enable us to plan the big and small infrastructure projects that the Foundation supports.

and

Your contribution will go directly into The NYMR Foundation Development Fund. This dedicated fund will be used exclusively to support the work on the range of infrastructure and rolling stock:

• Bridges – under or over the line, metal, brick, stone or wood
• Signals and the cabling, pulleys, wheels and signal boxes which operate them
• Track bed and the tracks themselves
• Sheds and workshops
• Rolling stock – locomotives, carriages, freight

So (if my understanding is correct), you are right that it shouldn't support day-to-day stuff, but more towards specific projects - but this could include track, structures and rolling stock.

 

Two railways run in very different ways. The KWVR have built a great relationship with the local area and the businesses in it, and run lots of smaller, as well as some big events. They also are willing to think outside the box (The Railway Children in Summer). The NYMR seem to have got stuck in a rut of sticking to running trains without much thought to anything else except licensed events (Paddington!). They are advertising a few things for Half Term but not much seems to be railway related. Certainly nothing there is going to be the thing that pulls more customers in.

On another note, I think most of us are quite understanding of them having to run diesels at the minute. But tricking customers into paying before telling them is not going to inspire repeat custom. Either give out a slightly discounted price when the railway is only running diesel, or maybe offer vouchers for cafes, buffets, or to help pay towards a repeat visit. And do it up front!

And finally, if the passenger numbers are down so much, and the infrastructure is about to collapse, why haven't they reduced train lengths. I know they ar down to 6 instead of 7 on most rakes this year (likely because of not enough coaches available!), but if most are still empty why not drop a couple more out?

 

... because passenger numbers are not the same during the day, perhaps? Peak demand may be just as busy and need the full rake.

 

Words like "desperation," "shambles," "ignorance" and the like come to mind when I read posts like these - and I'm casting no slur at the poster! Until we get a SMT that understands that the NYMR is a heritage railway, and what that means in practice there is little hope of survival - and when we do it will probably be too late. Sadly, it seems to be being run as an exercise in cutting peripheral costs to the bone and ignoring the real issues of generating more income and trying to reduce its biggest area of expenditure - staff.