Wensleydale Railway Matters

And Scruton got some good publicity on Look North tonight. Shame it has no services right now.

 

Hello alltogether,
is the sale of Aysgath station already finished by now? Unfortunately I don't see anything on their facebook page...
Currently there's a lot of needed progress and improvement going on:
Firstly, they plan to modify and improve Leybourne Station: http://www.wensleydalerail.com/2017/12/30/engineering-work-at-leyburn-february-to-late-march-2018/
Secondly, they build a new shed at Leeming Bar: http://www.wensleydalerail.com/2018/01/01/leeming-bar-shed-progress/
Thirdly, the infrastructure gets a revamp (changing sleepers and new LED lights for the closed level crossings). Lets hope that the trains will run again to Northallerton West in the near future.
More pics, especially covering the development of the infrastructure, can be seen on their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/wensleydalerailway/

 

Apparently the sale has been concluded, it is owned by mr smith, don't quote me on that though, need proper confirmation from someone among the Wensleydale ranks first, I think there are a few who have posted on this thread before who could give a more concrete answer. Confirmation was circulated on a plc mailing list apparently, the price I'm hearing it went for is rather disappointing though, were there any other bidders I wonder.

 

Anything further on this? I'm also hearing a rumour that it has gone to a Mr Smith. The rumour is a bit more specific on who, though.

 

Yes it was David Smith of WCRC fame, deal was done back in Jan/Feb time,my opinions have mellowed on the matter since last year as he seems to be a capable bloke and things have been moving apace on the WR outside of the aysgarth deal, like a new shed, and turnouts getting built, so the WR is very much alive. Exciting to see what happens now, he's one that can get things done.

 

Thanks for confirming this. Will be good to see positive progress. I have seen comment elsewhere that the new owner is interested in re-opening the line to Hawes but I can no longer find it. Interesting times.

 

I wonder whether some of the smaller engines currently stored at Carnforth will shortly be crossing the Pennines? It would make sense.

 

It just goes to show how prospects can be transformed in a short space of time. We don't yet know that they will be, of course, but the potential is now there - it will interesting to follow developments.

 

Perhaps my namesake has set his sights on connecting back to Garsdale? Then he'd be able to go back and forth to Carnforth to his heart's content!

I'll get me coat!

 

No need to get your coat: you're not alone in speculating in that direction.

But we will of course have to wait and see, as with most things in the Smith empire.

 

Don't know about that, but Castle Bolton will be the starting point, tantalisingly close and a tourist attraction that the railway has wanted to benefit from for a long time, just a hop over apedale beck, which they have a replacement bridge for, and a short track run to the vicinity of scallow bank lane where the halt will probably go. Once they've done that aysgarth is the next task, quite a bit more of an investment in materials to reach it however, but if there is a point in going to castle Bolton, there is a logical point in going further to aysgarth, I imagine it would be quite a popular pursuit for tourists to take a short ride on the train from the castle to aysgarth falls or vice versa. After aysgarth the benefits wane somewhat as it turns into the vast bleakness of the upper moorland, miles of track and no gain until garsdale, two viaducts and one tunnel to cross to get there, askrigg station site is built on, various occupation bridges are missing and the river ure bridge is gone too, but once you get there you are tapping into the charter traffic and the prettiest line in the country. If they made it to garsdale they would boast at having two mainline connections at either end, don't know many heritage railways that could say that.
So to cut a long opinion short:
Castle Bolton - short term, definitely achievable with the resources they have and would be open in a few years if they got on with it
Aysgarth - longer term, would be a lot more difficult but still achievable and would only be made a possibility with a stop at castle Bolton

 

A low trafficked 20+ mile heritage railway with a connection to the east coast mainline at one end, and one of the busiest, prettiest charter routes at the other, for somebody in mr smiths position (a charter operator) what's not to like? the potential is huge, but so is the cost of aysgarth - garsdale.

 

Only one at each end surely!
And, I can't think of any others, although the Ffestiniog have main line station interchanges in two places.

 

And so, once again, an outbreak of wailing, gnashing of teeth, doom, gloom and keyboard-mangling hand-wringing by internet forum users who have absolutely no knowledge of a situation in railway preservation ends up being a total and utter waste of time, screen space, bandwidth and soggy hankies.

Aaah, don'cha just love t'internet? ;-)

Until next time...

 

Two at one end if they reopen the Northallerton southern curve!

 

I wonder if David Smith will be making some sort of announcement about his plans? If anyone sees anything of this nature, obviously please post a link!

 

Far from sure about that analysis!

Aysgarth Falls would be a pretty reasonable destination but I would suggest that Hawes is probably the main settlement in the Dales, and with the creamery, ropeworks and Dales Museum, certainly provides far more as a destination than Garsdale (or even Leyburn, pleasant and popular though the 'gateway to the Dales' is). Indeed, to a charter operator, Garsdale to Hawes to enable a destination for tours may well be an attractive option.

At present, arguably the best view on the Wensleydale is looking up the Dale part the buffer stops while standing at Redmire Station!

Whatever many enthusiasts seem to think, I very much doubt incoming charters are a significant enough market worth rebuilding a line for. Perhaps as a regular destination (Sheffield or Manchester to Hawes maybe) but I might question how much of a market, or perhaps more pertinently, how bigger the market would be for that than existing tours.

A 20 minute walk (when/if they reopen to Springwell Lane) or slightly longer bus ride connects the Wensleydale to a mainline station with an average of 4 trains an hour. Garsdale as a connecting point is nowhere near as good as that!

Steven

 

It will be interesting to see how this all pans out. Mr. Smith seems to have most of the cards on his side - he has the resources to build his own, superior, railway and could choose not to join it to the WR - and he doesn't seem to me to be much of a team player! Perhaps he couyld cherry-pick the traffic on offer and leave the WR to wither then, when the inevitable happens, pick up what is left cheap. I hope that the WR Management have considered these possibilities.

 

Whatever the processes it is now a reasonable certainty that in not many years' time there is going to be an effectively new heritage line, equipped with prestigious main line steam locomotives, running from next door to the ECML and the Great North Road right up into the heart of the Dales. I wonder what effect that will have on other heritage attractions in the area?

 

Is it? Unless I’m missing something I’m seeing 2 (preserved railway with extension potential) added to 2 (new ownership at Aysgarth) making any number people like. Is there any evidence?


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