North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion

The lack of communication is one of the biggest mistakes those in charge are making. As is evidenced here and elsewhere, lack of information leads to speculation, rumour and gossip and that can soon escalate and become quite damaging. Virtually every post on here is gossip as virtually nothing is forthcoming from the railway. If the powers that be were up front with information that is factual and answered questions and comment, this thread would be much shorter and, if I were a betting man, I would bet a Mars Bar that those posting would be more supportive, even to the point of being financially so. However, I’m not a betting man.

 

Con

Confidence in the management team is also key, and although the SMT seem to be too thick-skinned to notice it, that seems to be almost wholly lost on the NYMR. There will always be some who respond regardless, but after a while appeals seem to have a way of fizzling out and quietly abandoned - bridge 42 is just the latest, after 75029, and 80135 was only saved after a large legacy to pay for the boiler work - but the lack of any news of progress on the boiler leaves me wondering if the money has now been spent elsewhere. That would make a mockery of there being ring-fenced funds, if it were true. I once met the person I think was the legatee in question, and he told me that the legacy was specifically for 80135.

 

That’s quite possible. I understood that you could only have the generic ‘Steam Railway’ as naming the railway was considered to be advertising but, looking on the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (vol 6) it gives an example saying ‘Woodland Steam Railway’. I wonder if the former is something that the local council will put up and the latter is something that you can pay lots of money for; anything up to £40k was quoted for a motorway sign.

 

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1PRkBXTWm3/

Latest update was a couple of weeks ago, right at the very bottom. HBSS moved premises earlier this year so that explains some of the delay, plus the magnitude of work required.

 

I understand 80135 is planned to enter service in 2028, along with 34101. There was a grand plan for locos published a couple of years ago but I can’t find it anywhere now. It certainly included 75029 but not 76079. I think that there is a loco crisis looming but there are plans to hire in beginning to take shape.

 

I think the NYMR should be OK for 2027, larger loco-wise - assuming that the two black 5s, 92134, Repton and Omaha will all be available, and with 825 plus 63395 probably due back next year. Beyond then, what runs out of ticket? Perhaps most of them apart from 44806 and 825, so that will really be a crunch point, and one where the mpd staff will need to be motivated to deliver miracles! At the moment, they seem from accounts I've seen to be very demotivated. Providing them with reassurance and general gee-ing up, would seem to be a key job for the CEO - but is she capable of doing either, and braving the lions den?

 

I admire your optimism. 45428 has been in traffic for more than 8 years. Repair or start the overhaul now? Is 92134 guaranteed to return after its visits to Bluebell and Chinnor? 926 seems to spend 6 months in traffic, 6 months out.

I wouldn't be surprised if the home fleet at the start of next season is simply 44806 and 2253, with 63395 and 825 returning as the year goes on and 926 making appearance over the summer.

 

My post was not intended to be belittling, it was simply a statement of my own experience - and I accept that yours may be different. In terms of "vox pop" support, though, I note that my post received several "likes" and yours did not attract (at the time of writing) any whatsoever. I do not claim that they are relevant, because I know nothing of their backgrounds, but it does appear that their sentiment, at least, seems to agree with me!

 

That, though, was a post from HBSS, nothing has come from the NYMR, and it is their boiler!

 

Accepted although I thought it was another example of shooting the messenger not the message. I don't expect likes for expressing what may be unpopular views. We're all influenced by our own experience which in the case of acting as Company Secretary to a muti million pound public company was primarily guidance to the Chairman, CEO, and other Board members on proper corporate governance ... something that quite a few heritage railways seem to struggle with!

 

What really matters is not the popularity of a post, or conversely its unpopularity, but how relevant it is. Heritage railways, though they may be run by companies, are in reality not true companies but are hybrid variants, and really also need to reflect the wishes of those wishes of those who support them; they really ought to be run for the benefit of those shareholders, who expecting benefits that are not financially based. I submit that the Plc board (which I think you may have been chairman of in the not too distant past), have lost sight of that because of your over-enthusiastic interpretation of company law without due recognition of the hybrid nature I have just alluded to. The NYMR is simply not a normal business!

IMHO there needs to be a lot more account of what those shareholders and supporters want to see. Even the silent majority of Plc shareholders who "invested" in the Plc are not now clamouring to see it return to profitability so it can pay a dividend to them, they want to see the railway thrive and secure an improved future for itself. Hiding from their aspirations behind company law and making it difficult to express their displease (or, perhaps, pleasure?) at the AGM does not help,

 

Nope, the patch is definitely "Severn Valley" and on one side has been done twice. The original "Steam" can be viewed underneath (I was walking from Bridgnorth to Bewdley anyway).

 

The 9F has failed and is out of action for the rest of today and tomorrow.

Hope it’s not too serious as she has only just come back.

 

That's certainly the case down here in East Sussex and Kent. We had some local signage to "Steam Railway" but wanted to extend this back to the A21 trunk road at Flimwell.
The signs would have named the railway but you needed a continuously signed route and the prices quoted were astronomical.
Were now building a level crossing over the said trunk road in order to gain better publicity

 

The info board in the NELPG shed says the Q6 has been pulled for overhaul due to amount of boiler issues found. 2 years early and estimated £500k required.

 

There is no shame in hiring in. Frank Pearce correctly spotted an incoming crisis and that season with 34027 and 34072 proved to be a bumper one, quite probably helped by the visitors.

Sawdust.

 

My late partner was a shareholder of said company. I think I'd better stop at that.

Sawdust.