Whitby Engine Shed. Could NYMR acquire it ?

I came across a photo in an old railway magazine recently of Whitby Engine shed which seems to still exist.
Has the NYMR ever considered acquiring it and turning it back into an Engine shed. Seems it was for sale recently too. ?
What is the situation with it ? Seems it has been converted for parking. Found some pictures here. Would it be suitable ?

https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/gallery/whitby-engine-shed-through-years-13586269

 

Given it has recently been purchased and the new owner has spent money renovating and converting its use presumably it is not presently for sale. If it did come on the market I believe the price would be somewhat higher than the present incumbent paid. If the NYMR was interested how come the didn't buy it when the chance was there?

 

Houses have been built on the land in front of it that severely restrict potential access - and even if they weren't there the cost of recreating access to it from the running line would almost certainly be prohibitive.

 

Fully considered on more than one occasion, apart from the track access issue, restricted number of NYMR locos allowed on network rail, its off premises, carriage storage problem if starting from Whitby, and there is considerable financial pressure on the current estate anyway as evidenced by ongoing appeals.

 

I fear it is basically beyond resources now. No passive provision by it to make it practical. There may have been a window of
opportunity when it might have been possible to move and re-erect the building. But that would have been no small job
and where to?

There are other really large demands on the North Yorks Moors resources that are not avoidable: with the formation and - especially - the bridges having to be renewed. If they aren't, certainly the bridges, no trains can run.

 

I would suspect another reason why no real action appears to have been taken is that there wouldn't really be a need for it. Why would the line invest huge amounts of money in developing a new operating base when they already have their major one only a few miles away? It doesn't make financial or practical sense

 

It might have made some sense if the access hadn't been blocked by housing but there's no road access either. I'm sure that if it could have been made use of, it would have been - the NYMR is desperately short of covered accommodation and few options for the land on which to build it.

 

There was a rumour that with the proposed new carriage shed development it might be possible to deconstruct Whitby engine shed and rebuild it at Pickering; giving much improved shed facilities over the present arrangement at New Bridge.

 

It's listed so, it has to remain, either there or on the NYMR

 

This isn't a rumour I've heard. There's nowhere to rebuild it other than on the new carriage shed site, and we now know that the carriage shed has to be open sided to allow flood water to flow through it. I think that effectively kills off any future carriage works development or thoughts of an engine shed on that site.

 

Fact is it would be a spur off network rail, not the NYMR. otherwise it might have been a handy place to stick a DMU ?

 

If it ever becomes available again perhaps it could be moved to the site of Bog Hall sidings, but that would be a huge project that the NYMR is unlikely to be able to contemplate for many years yet

 

I believe the idea was to to replace the existing carriage sheds with the Whitby building.

 

No. Never been a prospect at all.

Sawdust.

 

I wonder if you are getting confused with one-time proposal to move the wooden wagon repair depot from Peterborough to the NYMR as a carriage shed It would have been just as useless as a carriage shed though - both buildings are o9nly about two coach lengths long.

 

The NYMR is in the unusual and not very nice position of having original engine sheds at both termini, and no way of accessing them. I rather think that in the case of Whitby shed its most likely use, were the railway ever to acquire it, would be as something akin to the museum at Kidderminster.

 

It's an odd situation. Going to hlf cloth cap in hand for millions, yet having so many locos, realisable assets, and talking about empire building. Do they have millions in the bank? What next, Rillington for cream tea specials to & from York? I don't think hlf money should be spent in this way.

 

What an asinine comment! Like most other heritage railways the NYMR is a, and always has been, an undercapitalised money pit, but sufficiently valued by its supporters and the public to stump up to keep it going, and it certainly does not have millions in the bank. And who is talking about empire building or extending to Rillington Junction? As I said at the start, an asinine comment.

 

I was looking on streetview to see if I could see the engine shed, and found this picture

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.4...2tHHQDmtckLbPzCITJcg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

The engine shed is in the background , to the right of the train.

 

How are the locos on a heritage railway a “realisable” asset? Even assuming you could find buyers in a generally cash-poor sector, without locos you have no railway. (The same goes for other assets like land, buildings etc. - you could sell them, but only at the expense of the continued existence of the railway).

Tom