NYMR Steam Gala (27-29 September 2013)

Indeed the NYMRs somewhat torturous route is to some a route too far for their engines and many a fine machine has come to grief on the bank out of Grosmont. We'd love to see some of these engines but the owners/custodians have said no unfortunately. Perhaps as it could and has in some cases shown up weaknessess in their overhaul of their engine. Granted the other year when a Manor visited that engines steaming problems and stalling were down to a "newly" passed crew working a decidedly unfamilar locomotive for the first time......

 

The costs are standard - the Gala costings assume some "shuttle" services possibly double-heading, maybe an extra early train (about 70 miles extra running), plus the extra costs of having more locos in steam, so the figures are not "actuals" for what in reality happened but rather costings of a "typical" Gala operation (but excluding special hire and haulage).

However, about 2/3 of the difference compared with the previous weekend was that the off-peak timetables (basically 6 round trips instead of 9) were being run that weekend against a slightly enhanced peak at Gala. Looking at the difference between the costings of a Gold day and the Gala, if anything the real running costs of the Gala weekend just operated are probably a little less than the standard Gala costings.

Steven

 

Leaving aside the actual economic case of bringing a visiting engine in, just how many suitable engines were actually available last weekend? I'd imagine the NYMR would really be looking for a class 4-5 at least in order to haul full size trains over their line, and I don't notice a plethora of available candidates sitting around unused waiting to be hired out. As far as I can see, many heritage lines in the country are quite stretched for motive power, and most of the larger lines with larger locos were still running full services of their own last weekend. Given the general tightness of motive power, even if you were a line that, a few months ago, could have predicted that you would have a big engine available for this weekend, you might have been loathe to lend it out if it actually represented your one bit of contingency against a future failure. So for those bemonaning the lack of visitors - were there even any suitable engines in working order and not in use or undergoing scheduled mainteance last weekend?

Tom

 

Well I'm afraid it can and did. The NYMR website was offering 76079 as taking part in the gala! The Yorkshire Post had an NYMR advert offering" Intense Steam Traction", an hourly timetable doesn't offer that, if that is what was meant, and the advert also says 63395 is in the line up this coming weekend, really?!

However I'm glad the event was a success, largely down to the weather, and the loco line up was very good even without a gala visitor.

 

Hence the reason I added "think" - I was thinking of guests that had been officially discussed but never appeared, and managed to forget 76079!

76079 reappeared on the website list a few days before the event when it obvious not to be the case - apologies - I suspect something at the IT end more than anything else.

Don't know how long again the advert in the Yorkshire Post will have been booked and submitted but the website doesn't (or didn't last time I looked - http://www.nymr.co.uk/special-events/lner-weekend/) show it, although I can't remember when it not being ready was made "official".

Over the years, there have been a number of posts on various Gala threads indirectly expressing disappointment that it is easy to overlook the interest the home fleet on a number of lines represents to visitors, who maybe get once or twice a year. We have never gone as mad on guests at the NYMR as some places, mainly due to costs but also opportunity to use them and home locos. Having sufficient locos to have a spare is good (and didn't happen this time) but even then, that spare will be somebody's reason to visit and it is no good saying "but it's run nearly every day for the last 6 months" to some-one for whom today is their annual visit!

Steven

 

with the B1 back and Tornado arriving, hopefully this weekend we should not see any reason to run a diecel, that is assuming the railway has a loco on standby like they used to do. Waited 3 and half hours sunday night to see the second run of the s160 no show, wouldn't have mimded if it was steam, but 24 and 37, had hoped with only 1 diesel out most of the week the s160 would still have made it on the last run, namely swap over, but no such luck and as I opted to catch it down at picking I couldn't have picked a better place to find out. shot of 37 deleted!

 

The hierarchy will probably say fancy expecting a Steam engine at the Autumn Steam ? Typical unfortunately
Henry

 

A good way of summing it all up!
Couple of photos from Sunday afternoon can be seen here: http://richardsteampics.weebly.com/recent-images.html

Chose to have a nice long walk on the moors and catch a couple as and when suited but should have gone home 20 minutes earlier rather than waiting for another shot of a box. why an earth don't the advertise the freight workings, unless I'd missed something!
Richard

 

The NYMR has never had a loco "on standby" as such - many years ago, we routinely steamed 4 locos for 3 diagrams on the peak so crews and locos stayed together all day and the crews got a break. However, around 10 years, some calculations of the fuel cost of effectively having a loco standing all day (obviously, not the same one) were worked out and multiplied over the year and the practice stopped - a controversial decision (crews had to swap locos during the day) but coal prices are now about 3 times what they were then.

Even at Galas, there hasn't tended to be a spare loco in steam but as there are usually more than the minimum needed to work the service, with a problem on one loco, the next one can be stepped up. With fewer locos available this year, that wasn't possible.

Having a standby loco in steam is not an easy thing to do - apart from cost (no owner will accept a loco being steamed without being paid hire, which effectively would mean the standby was an NYMR owned loco which in turn means one running is being paid hire instead), there is the coal cost but above all, you cannot leave a loco to look after itself if in steam, so somebody has to crew it - probably not the most popular turn!

Although I sense from recent comments that any attempt at trying to explain things is just seen by some as lame excuses, the simple fact is that locos do fail and even if other operable locos are on site, if they are not in steam, there are two choices - cancel a service or use a diesel. Having guarded a train that was the first departure for 2 hours after a cancellation due to late running back in May, I can assure you that passengers are not very keen on what happens after a big gap either (and rightly so)!

Failures happen - nobody planned to have to employ diesels at the Gala or on other occasions (and, to avoid some-one looking up the timetable and saying "Not True - you have planned diesel" - yes, on shoulder services - I am talking about diesel usage that is not advertised) - the peak timetable on the NYMR, unlike some lines, is planned to be all steam, but the NYMR is not the only line that has found itself having to use extra diesels for a variety of reason, including at Galas - however, and perhaps I am being paranoid, I don't recall the same degree of criticism when it has happened elsewhere.

Steven

 

I may be barking up the wrong tree entirely, but would I be right in thinking the NYMR has for the past couple of years had fewer booked diesel turns than was previously the case, particularly over the Summer? Could it be argued that this has backfired somewhat? A regular, advertised, diesel diagram will at least bring in diesel enthusiasts and not disappoint families, whilst diesel substitution on an almost daily basis means headaches all round...

 

I think the visiting engine can be a bit of a red herring for some galas as I would visit a railway just to have the opportunity of seeing several of the home fleet in action that I might not have before. The visitor would only appeal if it was a particular loco that I wanted to see. For instance I would happily go to the SVR for a gala just to catch 1501 in action as I have yet to see her in steam.

 

Sorry, I wasn't suggesting the railway made a standby loco regular policy and I know the last two years often there hasn't been a loco to spare. I was suggesting during special steam events where possible other options may be available, such as the end of the day sending one of the other steam loco's that has just arrived on shed at the end the day out to picking instead of resorting to the 24. I do know several railways during steam galas have a standby engine and make adjustments such as above to maintain the steam gala.

I do remember 80325 sitting on shed some days in the past, however I seem to Remember the policy was to have 4 in service, so one was waiting to drop onto the arriving train as grosmont, allow the arriving loco an hour to get coal, water and address any minor issues before dropping back on the platform for the next service. Of course the railway still has 4 in steam but the spare turn is now on Whitby, which generally means loosing time as there is little time before the train is due out again.

I do wonder about the Whitby service in its current form, would better running a shuttle to grosmont, and allowing passengers to change trains. This would have the advantage of a built in upsale in shop at grosmont provide the timing gives the passangers around 15 minutes for the change over. No risk of out time Whitby's as a net result either. In many ways it would appear the railway has transferred its demographic while not making much expected gain at extra cost while becoming more dependent on hired engines at extra cost.

I do hope the railway manages to improve its profits and reduces its cost while main ting the service standards the customers have come to expect and enjoyed in the past from NYMR.

I hope this response is taken in correct light and it is not intended as some sort of ran't.

 

The idea of having a Whitby shuttle is really a non-starter until such times as space is available to stable the Pullman set away from Grosmont station. There is no run round except through the adjacent platform so, if (say) the train from Whitby arrives first, its loco has to run round before the train from Pickering can enter the station. That loco is then trapped until the Whitby train has then departed. Whichever way it happens, one train will delay the other if there is any late running and the effect will be cumulative, giving no possibility of making up any time. It could only really work if you had spare locos to take the return workings.

 

Just posted our film from a very enjoyable weekend despite the odd complication.