North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion

“Proceeds the sale [sic] will be reinvested in the NYMR’s heritage fleet and infrastructure” (my emphasis)

Which rather sounds like they have sold a loco to pay for a bridge. Probably pragmatic in the circumstances, but even so …

Wasn’t 76079 on the market for quite a while? You wonder whether a sale has been under some distress, i.e. sold lower than might have been hoped because of the cash-flow urgency?

Tom

 

Sorry to see her go - a capable and user friendly loco and in my opinion well suited to the Moors, especially with the lighter trains that we seem to run theses days. But she does need a lot of money spending on her which it seems that Strathspey have and the Moors certainly doesn't. More selling of the family silver.

Peter

 

It always was a distress sale - the question is how much the distress has been compounded.

But, given a choice between an NYMR without the resources to overhaul her, and a Strathspey with those resources, I'm glad she's moving on

 

Totally agree Peter, had some happy days on the 76 in its ELR days. Being a Horwich loco gives it a special affection too so I'm glad it has a working future again, albeit rather far from "home"!

 

The standard moguls were used heavily in Scotland so it’s quite appropriate. As part of the team restoring 76077 I’m looking forward now to a day in a few years when we might see all 4 survivors in steam, even better if 77, 79 and 84 all ex Sutton oak and Wigan engines in one place!

 

Wouldn't go that far, was only purchased by the NYMR less than 20 years ago, did one ticket and a bit there? More heavily associated with the East Lancs, even Llangollen and she did plenty of mainline trips under Ian Riley.

The likes of 5428, DVL, 75029 and 80135 are NYMR family silver.

 

If you do the sums, 76079 is better suited to the NYMR than a Black 5 and, in terms of tractive effort, it has pretty much the same as a Black 5 in hand on 7 coach trains. Why better suited? A Black 5 weighs more and that extra weight has to be dragged around.

 

And roll over bridges!...

 

Whilst is disappointing to see 76079 leave the railway, it's important to note that since it arrived I think the NYMR have also added another Black 5, a 9F and a second Standard Tank to the ranks. Plus the S160 Omaha!

Post Covid, heritage railways have been reported to now be operating a leaner smaller pool of locomotives. Some even opting instead for hire in arrangements.

Here 76079 seems surplus for today's NYMR requirements. Not ignoring the income generated by the sale will be very useful right now!

 

The 5, 9F and S160 are all privately owned so in theory they could be removed at relatively short notice which would leave the railway very short of motive power.