North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion

If you were attending an event as far away as Yorkshire in one of your "projects" the chances are you'd be approaching Whitby (or Pickering) on the back of a rac lorry so wouldnt have to worry about parking anyway.

 

I take your point, but it's a pretty universal one across all types of special event, but usually here are multiple different types of visitor to them all - broadly, participants, "committed" spectators and curious spectators accidental onlookers, and usually the place is heaving! The NYMR isn't looking to attract them all onto its trains, and because the town is so busy there really ought to be enough willing to indulge in a train trip - if only there is one on offer. As a recent former GM once said to me, "we shouldn't be afraid to take a risk and try things for the first time". But the NYMR seems to have lost that ability, and we need it back.

 

On the point of providing a service as a 'park and ride' as a heritage line, personally, I will always look to use the train if one is available. I appreciate I am an enthusiast, but there must be others of a similar mind.

With a brief mention of my local Bluebell, there are often passengers who take the train to East Grinstead from Sheffield Park and then come back having visited the town. It would be quicker and cheaper to drive to East Grinstead. It's exactly the same situation with Whitby, but much more pronounced. I'm visiting Wales soon, and want to walk up one side of Snowdon and down the other. The bus provides a much better service than the Welsh Highland Railway, but I want to take the train as part of the package of the excitement that day. So I've worked out how to make it work. People like riding on (steam) trains, and it doesn't have to be the quickest or cheapest option. They will make their plan work so they can have a ride on the train, even if that's not their main aim for the day.

In other news, today we're on loco roster V3 https://www.nymr.co.uk/media/ykgpqspb/290726-003.pdf
Has the autocar sat down? 1640 ex Grosmont was canned.

 

In relation to flexibility, trying new things and events that people may want more time at but combine with a Heritage rail trip, questions for those who are more familiar with NYMR Past & Present:

Did there ever used to be an evening Diner (or similar) that operated to Whitby and are there paths for such a thing now on the NR bit?

I'm thinking if there are events where people may want to combine the train and Event X in Whitby that ends later, could you add a later return ad hoc or have a diner that you swap to a service train on certain days, as you wouldn't run a diner on a Thomas day

 

I guess you can try to work out if there are paths at a time you think is suitable from looking at RTT.
But it will come down to resources. I have no idea how many boxes you would need to keep open. Is the diner volunteer crewed or paid staff?
Presumably after all the diesel negativity on here you would be proposing steam for this. How many would want to be disposing of the loco after midnight.

As we were talking about Goth weekend, look at the schedule and decide when to run your train 23:00, 0001?

https://thelittleblackalmanac.co.uk/the-official-whitby-goth-weekend-guide-2/