North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion

The SVR has suggested itineraries on the website, not sure how many people use them though.
And yes, I concur with the suggestion that people struggle to read timetables these days. I've lost count of the number of times I've had to help people work the timetable out when I've been TTI-ing.

 

There is strong anecdotal evidence from booking office and other staff that significant numbers of would be passengers turn and walk if they find that a planned steam service is going to be diesel hauled and passenger numbers are significantly down during high fire risk periods when it is all diesel. Steam is still a major draw.

 

Which I don’t query - I’ve seen it happen. The point is that it’s steam and Whitby, nor steam or Whitby.

 

I suspect for a fair percentage of the passengers its actually Whitby and steam.

 

It is Whitby and steam. That's the draw. The journey is slow but steam is the draw.
If they'd reduced the daily ticket price to compensate for the annual pass change ridership would've increased, I'm sure.

However it soon became apparent due to the drought that the season would be difficult.
There's always pent up demand in the spring. Those warmer days in March bring people out.
Gresley's visit, as a pre season warm up offered a chance for a good day out. Its success was partly due to the price -£30. Why wait a week to ride on the line in April for £49.50?

Who thought that up? It's the railway competing against itself.
After that any attempt to benchmark the new ticket arrangements against 2024 was doomed due to the steam ban.
At least the diesel gala went well and the steam gala provided a return to form. Scotsman came to the rescue in the autumn.
A very difficult year.

There are so many good things to sell the railway with but, at the moment it seems in chaos. Are the right people in charge? Was it right to appoint people with little or no railway operating experience?

I run a business and marketing is crucial. It's not that hard or time consuming but it is essential. It's about three or four hours a week with the occasional full day on it. Outside help is used twice a year for a day or two.
It's hard to believe the NYMR employs full time marketing people, perhaps more than one, yet there's such a poor outcome from their efforts.

 

Not to forget they seem to run Facebook Ads (and other social media?) pretty much all year round (design once or twice a year and leave to keep appearing on peoples feeds). They get the Yorkshire Post to visit and do a praising piece on them at least once a year. They feature across local radio every-time there is a decent sized event on. That's all at cost though doesn't take a lot of resource to set up. The NYMR also has the benefit of being included in lots of the Yorkshire advertising ('Whats On Yorkshire', 'The Yorkshireman') and many things related to the National Park (northyorkmoors.org). Despite all of that last year they were heavily discounting tickets on external internet platforms, and even with the Flying Scotsman, some of those trains had Fox & Edwards involvement to get tickets sold. Bridge 42 has also been featured in every local press publication from Harrogate to Scarborough as well as Look North.

The worst thing is I suspect a lot of the above would happen with or without the marketing team. Certainly when I compare it with the output on the KWVR who are all volunteers it is a bit of a reality check about what's possible with a lot less resource.

 

News about bridge 42 on YorkMix.com. Click on news and scroll down.

 

https://www.yorkmix.com/nymr-rail-b...to-allow-trains-to-run-during-the-2026-season

 

That looks very like the appeal page, rather than a proper report.

 

I'm told that donations towards the bridge appeal have reached £100K which is pretty good going given the length of time the appeal has been going. I wonder if there have been a couple of substantial donations from people? Whatever, it is good news and let's hope it continues.

 

At least it should help with the initial cost of propping.

Jon

 

The difficulty involved with designing, fabrication and putting into position the "propping" ( centring?) given the fact the bridge is over a fast-flowing river with very restricted access to the work site should not be underestimated. It will also require regular inspection to ensure it maintains its integrity so there will be access platforms and walkways in addition to the structure in the sketch. If you told me this lot would cost £800,000 I would believe you.

 

But what exactly is wrong with the bridge?
The propping is enormous!

 

The propping looks like a complete steel bridge, likely to cost most of the £800k on its own. I hope that, with it in place, the repairs to the original stone structure will be easy and cheap.

 

Personally I find that surprising. From where I live, in Greater London, I have visited the Spa Valley and the Bluebell as a day trip by train, the Spa Valley even allowing starting at one end and finishing at the other. I would be a lot less keen on driving to either of them unless including a visit to another attraction in the same area, with at least one overnight stay; which is exactly what I have done for visits to the RHDR and the K&ESR.

 

For context please see a post from a few pages ago.

Bearing in mind the railway only finally put a figure on it this week, that post had amazing foresight! I'm not saying the figure is right or wrong, but there are definitely questions to be asked of how they got to it.

 

Somebody posted a comment on the same theme as Wonkyturntables' post earlier, on the NYMR's FB page. It looks as though that post has now been pulled.

Mark

 

That ‘propping’ drawing looks like exactly the sort of former you might employ to construct an entire replacement structure …..

 

NYMR have posted on their FB today that the bridge will be ‘propped’ ready for services to commence as advertised, and repairs will be scheduled for next winter.
The term ‘propped’ has raised an eyebrow or two.