NYMR 40th Anniversary Spring Steam Gala 3rd - 12th May 2013

I spent £1 to find neither of the locos I wanted to see was out on the day I could make (11th), which I'd shrugged off as "can't please everyone". Should I now take it from the post a few above that No.29 may be out after all? I'd be careful about using lines like 'It seems to me that you just didn't want to spend a £1 to buy a loco roster for the day', when it turns out these may already be inaccurate...

 

Like Steve says, 61306 was a day late arriving, this meant a friday rather than thursday arrival at Grosmont, because of this its exam was a day late happening (it would have been done friday, not saturday). It could quite easily have been pulled from saturday totally but at least rostering it late in the afternoon ensured that it worked one round trip at least, after allowing plenty of time for an exam to be undertaken beforehand.

 

Rightly so after charging punters for something that was totally useless, better not to bother than risk all the criticism just for the sake of making a few quid!

 

The rosters should have been available online free of charge with suitable caveats applied. I bought the Friday roster online on the Thursday, downloaded it to my phone at Grosmont station and saw that 45428 was rostered for Friday. I then walked up to the engine sheds and saw 45428 at the back of the shed with the middle driving wheels missing. Clearly this wouldn't be working on Friday so why was it included in an online roster which I bought the day before? A web document can be amended at any time so why wasn't it changed? If it is charging people for information, the railway should make sure it is correct.

I still had a good day on Friday as I always do on the NYMR but it doesn't create a good impression of the railway.

 

Had a wonderful two days in the Moors in the wind and sun! Was my first gala visit to the line, and apart from the roster inaccuracies, I had a brilliant time!

Only had chance to upload this shot so far...certainly ended the Saturday well!


45407 The Lancashire Fusilier by Teenage Steam Photography, on Flickr

Thanks,
Lewis

 

Clip of 45407 with a goods train through Goathland on Friday tea time - Please set min quality to 480

 

Had an excellent run with 'Impala' to Battersby on Saturday, the advance loco roster tempted me back again for a ride with 60007 and 61306 today Monday, thoroughly enjoyed both days, good to see plenty of customers there too.....

Many thanks to those who are making it happen !!!

 

It is satisfying to know that some people are satisfied!!

 

A collection of 4 clips have been put together here from the first day (03.05.2013) of the North Yorkshire Moors Railways 40th Anniversary Festival & Spring Steam Gala. Goods workings from 3 Loco's.

 

A few shots from me from Fri / Sat / Sun here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60283079@N05/8715861134/in/photostream/

 

Little 29 is looking absolutely superb, incidentally, and it's nice to see her in a version of her old NYMR livery.

 

Would have been even nicer if it had been out working. I emailed Customer Services and was told it would be out working on Sunday. I drove over for the day and of course it wasn't.

I therefore decided to contentrate my day on Mayflower (well done to those responsible for negotiating an agreement to have it, I know it has been requested for some years now). It got boxed in by platforms full of stock at Grosmont and couldn't run round. Good one, there were plenty of locos around that could have released the stock. As usual the station staff at Grosmont didn't make any announcements as to what was going on, when asked they didn't have a clue. This is a theme running through several years at galas in my experience, when the timetable goes wrong the Grosmont staff seem incapable of making a phone call to find out whats happening then relaying it to the passengers. Very frustrating. I was with people who weren't enthusiasts and they were incredulous the tannoy system wasn't used to communicate information as to what was happening.

"Any rubbish" asked the nice friendly trolley service man
"yes the timetable", shouted a wag at the back of the coach!

Before anyone gets on their high horse yes we know things can go wrong but anyone operating a gala needs to witness what they do at Keighley with a run round loop and a siding.

 

ETA: On second thoughts, perhaps not.

 

I spent Saturday photographing (not too sucessfully - cloud, wind, and finally D7628 with 44871 on the rear on the last train out of Whitby for example), then spent Sunday travelling. A sedate run with 60007 on 09.45 ex Grosmont (which was 30 late leaving) as far as Levisham, then back to Grosmont with 825. 61306 on 11.35 from Grosmont was ok, 60007 coming back from Pickering was much better, a surprising amount of noise from an A4.

Then on arrival at Grosmont it started to go wrong. No sign of the train from Whitby with 61264, which should've been in at 14.20 (this was about 14.45). It eventually pulls in, the B1 working all the way into the platform, at which point I overheard one of the station staff saying the train was cancelled. I didn't hear any announcements, but as soon as the train stopped all the passengers started alighting. Bearing in mind there were a lot of people who were already on the platform, plus several who'd just arrived from Pickering, add in the train load of Whitby passengers and the platform was very crowded. One of the station staff said something about brake problems and that a coach may need to be removed. I walked away soon after 3pm because I could see the 15.40 was going to be rammed. A train with 3 train loads of passengers at Grosmont all trying to head back south wasn't going to be much fun. In the half hour I was on Grosmont station, I didn't hear one announcement. As Respite says, that's not good enough.

If it was brake problems with the Whitby set, why wasn't 61264 taken off and put on the stock that had just rolled in from Pickering? It would only have left 15 minutes late with a bit of slick operation. There was also the teak set in the sidings north of the station. By the time the next train arrived from Pickering, all four sets of stock bar the diner would've been at Grosmont!

I know it's a gala, and things go wrong, but other than the occasional shuttle, it was basically the same timetable as used in the summer. For locos to be appearing off shed 5 minutes after they should've departed isn't good enough really. I enjoyed the first few hours there, but come 3pm I was getting fed up with the delays and lack of announcements about what was going to happen next. The Moors put on a good gala, the green B1 on the teaks looked good, but there were far too many silly things going wrong to make it a classic.

 

Short clip of 62005 and 61264 power double heading to Bridge 30 on Friday (watch minimum setting 480p)

 

As the normal NYMR loading is 7 coaches, it seems a bit overkill to double head with only six on. However, in BR days, anything over 5 coaches was double headed so it was quite an authentic site.

 

Well when i turned up at Pickering this morning hoping to see the K1, Sir Nigel, Mayflower or No.29 (can't afford to travel on gala days anymore now), i was disappointed when the grubby diesel turned up at Pickering this morning on the teak coaches and only 75029, 61264 and 825 which I've all seen and been on a fair few times before were running what looked to be a normal weekday service over the full line. Ended up leaving after about half an hour. Not impressed at all.

 

Just goes to show you can't please all the people all the time. I had a lovely day out yesterday -- 69023 and the LNER inspection saloon, number 29 piloting 825 up the hill to Goathland, 44871 and 62005 preparing on shed for the trip to Fort William, 61306 alongside Sir Nigel on the running shed. Gosh it is dry up there though.

 

60007 in action - (please watch minimum setting 480p)

 

Had you already bought your platform ticket?