jnc's Recent Activity
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jnc liked Jamessquared's post in the thread West Somerset Railway General Discussion.
That's where we might diverge in view. I'm not so sure it is as clear-cut as that, as a reading of the NYMR thread (especially a couple of years back) may show. The headline looks good, but model 1 (free return within a year) appears to have had...
Oct 13, 2026 at 8:56 PM -
jnc replied to the thread North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion.
The £300K loan I noticed was to the Trust; that presumably provided a large part of the £500K grant from the Trust to the PLC. (Your post can be read to indicate that the £300K loan was to the PLC; it wasn't.) In other words, the loan and grant...
Oct 13, 2026 at 6:59 PM -
jnc liked 35B's post in the thread West Somerset Railway General Discussion.
Just as this thread used to be recommended reading for discussions of principle, I suggest the NYMR thread occupies that (sad) place now. The message that comes out from that is that that success is borne of lots of little things, not a few big...
Oct 13, 2026 at 6:52 PM -
jnc liked Jamessquared's post in the thread West Somerset Railway General Discussion.
Oh, I don't disagree, I think some kind of wholesale structural reform on the WSR would bring many benefits - I just caution against throwing all eggs into the Gift Aid basket! The other benefits may in the long term prove rather more beneficial....
Oct 13, 2026 at 6:51 PM -
jnc liked Fish Plate's post in the thread West Somerset Railway General Discussion.
I quite agree Tom, gift-aid on fares is not necessarily a silver bullet on its own, but there is also the issue of probably the biggest source of friction on the railway of the past few years, and that is that the supporting charities are...
Oct 13, 2026 at 5:47 PM -
jnc liked Jamessquared's post in the thread West Somerset Railway General Discussion.
True, though it’s worth noting that Gift Aid in effect leverages four times the value in altruistic donation from the public which might otherwise not be made, and if it didn’t exist the Government may come under pressure to fill the gap. So it...
Oct 13, 2026 at 5:46 PM -
jnc liked Gladiator 5076's post in the thread West Somerset Railway General Discussion.
And presumably gift aid, which the Governments website says they pay out £1.88 billon per year, is subject to the whims of the guy or gal inhabiting No 11 Downing Street. Perhaps around the cost of a medium sized hospital so the politics could be...
Oct 13, 2026 at 4:59 PM -
jnc liked Jamessquared's post in the thread West Somerset Railway General Discussion.
Although I support the principle of moving to some kind of charitable model, I think there are some somewhat heroic assumptions in that £400k figure. The biggest one is to reckon on 75% of the income being inherently charitable. That takes some...
Oct 13, 2026 at 4:58 PM -
jnc liked acorb's post in the thread West Somerset Railway General Discussion.
I know that feeling Nathan, this news has quite affected me today as I could see a lot of myself in him, despite having never met the guy. Life can really be cut short so suddenly and really none of us are immune.
Oct 13, 2026 at 4:57 PM -
jnc liked NathanP's post in the thread West Somerset Railway General Discussion.
Very sad news about Jonathan Jones-Pratt. I met him once on a railtour, the only time I ever met him, but that short encounter left an indelible impression. He was so passionate and enthusiastic about railway heritage and had already achieved so...
Oct 13, 2026 at 4:57 PM -
jnc liked Wagoniester's post in the thread Bluebell Railway General Discussion.
DoG has arrived on Bluebell metals (as I type, it's sat waiting at Kingscote for a train to pass). Interestingly, looking at the webcams the North London tank appears to have emigrated back to Horsted Keynes and is just visible on platform 4/5...
Oct 13, 2026 at 4:56 PM -
jnc replied to the thread North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion.
I express no opinion on whether or not this will perhaps back-fire with customers, but this is the same group of people who decided to turn a loan of £300K to the Trust into an operating profit for the PLC. Compared to that, selling thing A for...
Oct 13, 2026 at 4:52 PM -
jnc liked Jark91's post in the thread North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion.
So the PM containing opinion about who other people should choose not engage with is from a regular contributor to this thread and this discussion. You're all adults, right? Well advanced into middle age and beyond? This is embarrassing.
Oct 13, 2026 at 4:17 PM -
jnc liked Big Al's post in the thread North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion.
So @60044 posts a comment by someone else that includes an admission it cannot be guaranteed for its truth/accuracy and then expects people to take seriously anything else that is posted as worth reading. That feels like a foot in the mouth...
Oct 13, 2026 at 4:16 PM -
jnc replied to the thread West Somerset Railway General Discussion.
That's what I get for believing something I read in the press! Restoring Thornbury Castle, no busman’s holiday seemed to indicate that he was about 40 (it called him 32 years old in 2018). Noel
Oct 13, 2026 at 4:15 PM
