North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion

Assuming there is anyone else who would take on the organisation then that would be fine. However, I would caution that that might not be beneficial to a railway which can apparently fill all the trains that it is capable of running.

I think Chris Price has in a number of occasions stated that the NYMR cannot grow its way to success. I expect that he is right. There is no way to get the revenue from carrying people growing faster than the costs. Now, my only cautionary note on that, is that that is the NYMR situation. It doesn’t follow that everyone is in that boat.

Thomas events are not too expensive provided you can generate the volume of people needed. Some places still can and others cannot or could fill their trains anyway.

 

Lack of sufficient numbers of reenactors though 50s and 60s is possible and has been done.

 

Dick Turpin weekend?
Historical and the secondary, errrr, spend is as much as you need. And there's always lupins...

 

That would seem to me the way to try to grow it. I think ww2 events have sailed themselves into a very unseemly area, and now would not be a good time to go back.

I'm always vaguely surprised there's no obvious gothery. A lot of my goth friends to whitby very often, and they never mention the railway as part of the weekend. I wonder if there is something to do there? (Although older goths are now muttering it's been taken over by steampunks who don't get the music and just like the hats)

 

I don't have any figures to back up what I have said about the cost/benefit to the NYMR of the Wartime weekends, only anecdotal evidence but from high up sources. I gave up any involvement in them a long time ago, preferring to keep well away from the chaos so I don't even have personal experience to back me up.

I've also heard it said, again from people who have responsibility that, as far as the railway was concerned, it was becoming a dangerous event due to numbers attending. There was certainly a definite sigh of relief when it had to be cancelled due to Covid.

In terms of profitability, last years gala was far better than any of the previous wartime weekends.

 

Not sure there’s the same connection for goths with trains. Reenactment would be more about sitting around the local shopping centre in the summer looking hot and miserable with a warm 2litre bottle of cider for company…



Simon

 

Well yes, but if you can get a fraction of those goths looking miserable on a train (with a bottle of warm cider purchased from NYMR), you are onto a winner...!

 

The problem here is a combination of "Dad's Army" and "'Allo, 'Allo". They've created a sort of folk memory of WWII that is detached from the much grimmer realities, and has formed the basis for a great deal of re-enactment cosplay - which the preserved railway events tap into.

For some , they're like catnip. For others (I'm one), such events are a historical travesty, utterly nauseating, and to be avoided like the plague. Those views are irreconcilable, and always will be, although I do wonder at railways that are registered as museums portraying such a distorted view of history (even just BR liveried locomotives hauling Mk1s).

My personal hope is that the enforced break caused by first Covid and then the Russian invasion of Ukraine will break their spell, especially if (as seems to be the case at NYMR), the costs of running them are disproportionate to the extra income they generate.

 

But a gala weekend every month probably isn't feasible either, even if it was only in the low season, although I do think that galas should run over two weekends with a different emphasis each weekend, to potentially get better value from transport costs. I don't know what the solution is, but I do think more has to be done, something that lies between carrying on more or less regardless, as seems to be the case, or panicking as others seem to be. The NYMR seems to be pinning its future prospects on the "living museum" idea, which seems reasonable at first sight, but imho the problem is it is... well. .. a scenic railway. I've described it elsewhere as a one trick pony. If you look at a successful example of a living museum - Beamish is the one most of use look to - it is multi-faceted with a much broader appeal, that has taken years to develop. The NYMR doesn't have years to catch up, therefore I suggest sticking o a formula that they know works, and trying to modify it to either scale it back or spread it out over more weekends.





#





#


#

 

Unless they were POWs?
I'll get my coat ... ...
Pat

 

Generally not walking round still armed and in uniform …

Tom

 

Now if it were Italian POW's they could build a replica of the 10A coal stage over the weekend.

 

If memory serves (which it frequently doesn't) some of the earliest 'War on the Line' events on the Watercress Line involved a few active members who could put up their own medals, in fact one D-Day veteran always wore his medal ribbons on his Guard's uniform (something I observed on BR occasionally). The subsequent appearance of middle-aged wannabe Battle of Britain pilots etc. definitely lowered the tone for me, and started me wondering what we were celebrating.
Pat

 

What used to p*** me off were the people who put crosses of white sticky tape on every window in sight, then subsequently disappeared when the event was over, leaving others to scrape it off.

Bob.

 

No jury would convict etc.…

 

An interesting statement, given that we're regularly reminded that enthusiasts don't pay the bills!

 

Why doesn't somebody try a 50's gala. Most stock & locos on heritage lines would be appropriate. There are plenty of rock and roll bands (including some of the originals !) still performing the relevant music, and Teddy Boys (without the brawling !) are still about. Vintage vehicles from that era are plentiful as well.

Bob.

 

I’ve wondered this too. Those who enjoy dressing in 1940s fashion would surely still enjoy it as I can’t imagine that, in post-war austerity those fashions and clothes just disappeared.

 

We tried a 50s and 60s event at the MHR. Re-enacters are fewer that’s the main issue.

 

Pretty sure that the NYMR has tried both 50s and 60s (at the height of Heartbeat) weekends but there just doesn't seem to be the same interest in them - even the associated vehicle events don't seem to have done as well. I go back to the point that in the case of the 40s events it is the general perception of the cameraderie of the time (imaginary or not) that is one of the biggest draws and maybe that is what should be focused on developing a sense of for later eras.