North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion

Energy Independence

 

That depends on where the replacement comes from

 

Of what?
Shunting? Maybe
Last mile beyond electrified lines? Probably
Heritage railway haulage? Unlikely

 

There was a time when the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway was run entirely by battery-electric locomotives...

 

And?
The Hayling Island Railway has no steam engine.
There are a great many examples of railways of many kinds with different motive power. But a key (I think)
Selling point of most heritage railways is some element of steam. Hence my response.

 

....none of which is both trite and not really relevant! I can see the argument for oil-burners at times of fire risk (the news from Los Angeles reminds us how devastating fires can be!), and not alrelevant. The perceived problem with coal-buring locos is smoke and ash as most people have heard of CO2, but don't actually "see" it, just as they don't "see" their cars producing it, and truly these are negible problems in global terms, but they are what people notice. Yes coal is a dirty product, but it is also extremely possibly dangerous to produce it; there are more than just environmental arguments against using it, and really those environmental reasons are no more than the reason for discontinuing its use. Nevertheless, its use is probably justifiable in limited circumstances - such as heritage applications - if it can be sourced in a safer way, e.g. by opencast mining. Thats what heritage users ought to be pressing for, and preferably from a UK source that minimalises environmental damage due to transport

 

Yes, except that proposed legislation will ban all UK coal production on any worthwhile scale. The argument for retention of some UK coal production to meet heritage needs in a more environmentally friendly way has been made ad nauseam but has fallen on deaf ears. That’s why it may be unduly complacent to assume that the next stage of banning coal imports will not follow.

 

515 ran with the 'Scarab' system of oil firing from 2/7/1921 to 17/10/1921, and again from 12/6/1926 to 17/12/1926. No idea what the 'Scarab' system entails, or whether it resembles any current method(s).
Pat

 

By 2029 after four years of Trump and a government here which is becoming more despised by the day, net zero will be dead in the water as will climate scaremongering. I just hope the heritage railway industry can survive a further 1,679 days* as I'm sure better times will follow when we are no longer governed by incompetent morons like Starmer, Miliband and Reeves.

*That's the number of days until the next General Election

 

Trouble is they will most likely be replaced by a new set of equally incompetents, like Badenoch (following in the inauspicious footsteps of Sunak, Truss and Johnson) - maybe -even worse - Farage! After a year that (according to BBC reports) Global warming has increased, at least it shouldn't be hard to find a desert to bury on's head in the sand!

 

More likely, the window for steam operation will get ever smaller due to the risk of moorland fires...

 

Climate scaremongering? I really thought that we had moved on from people thinking the climate isn't changing on account of human activity. Heritage railways are increasingly counting the cost of extreme weather events.

The discussion now is how to continue to keep doing the things we want to do in a changing environment.

Jon

 

Really?

If you alone stop throwing litter on the floor, the environment is only negligibly positively better. If everyone stops throwing litter on the floor, the environment is significant better for everyone. Sometimes to get the benefit for you, it requires the collective work of many, for the benefit of many.

But somebody has to go first, stop throwing litter, and call out those that do. Even if the initial impact is negligible. Eventually almost everyone will put their litter in a bin. A last few idiots might keep throwing litter, but those last few idiots only have the same negligible (but negative) impact as the one person who goes first.

Be brave. Go first. But if you can't be a leader, try to be a follower. Don't be one of the tail end.

 

Meanwhile, back at the NYMR...

 

Just wondering what works are planned this winter? Given the line is only operating Goathland-Grosmont/Whitby for Feb half term.

 

The NYMR website says ‘major signalling works’. I’m unaware of any so I asked the chaps in S&T on Facebook . No response. Obviously secret works. At the moment PW are busy relaying one of the turnouts on platform 2 line at Pickering but that’s not a big job.

 

I can only answer by way of a a guess, and my suspicion is that any "major winter works" will actually be lots of very minor jobs as long as they cost very little.

 

I very much agree with the sentiment but I am not sure the litter analogy is a good one. The Keep Britain Tidy campaigns began in the 1950s and I see few signs of much improvement.

The numbers of idiots and ignoramuses are often underestimated.

 

O/T, but I recall that when McDonald's wanted to open its first branch in Peterborough, it had to employ litter-pickers due to the concerns about the litter it would generate in Cathedral Square.

The fact that the signs above the A1(M) south of Peterborough frequently display messages imploring drivers to take their litter home with them is indicative.

 

Getting back to the NYMR, a friend of mine today asked how the railway was doing. As part of the conversation, he also suggested that the wages bill must now be about a million pounds. I laughed and told him the truth. Conversation then led onto how many were employed and I consulted the organisation chart (which is slightly out of date.) It lists the following job titles:
CEO
Finance Director
Executive Assistant
Head of Engineering, Operations and Safety
Director of Civil Engineering
Financial Controller
IT Manager
Head of Commercial
Head of Engagement
Head of People
H & S and Compliance Manager
Head of Mechanical Engineering
Operations Manager
HR Manager
Engagement Communications
Health & Safety Officer
Pullman Manager
Booking Office & Customer Service Manager
Catering Manager
Community & Engagement Manager
Marketing Campaigns Manager
C & W Manager
MPD Team Manager
Planning & Project Engineer
Infrastructure Manager
Deputy Operating Manager
Maintenance Lead
PW Team leader
S&T Maintenance Technician
Lineside Environmental Sustainability Manager
Assistant Shops Manager
Onboard Catering Team Leader
Learning & Interpretation Officer
Digital Marketing Campaign Executive
Support Care Coordinator
Events & Guest Experience Manager
People Coordinator
Membership Administrator

We then get down to the individual 'teams', of which there are sixteen and include both volunteers and paid staff. I hasten to add that not all of those posts are currently filled (I think there are three vacancies) but it gives some idea of the number of what people call management roles. I know people like to have important sounding jobs but does any other railway have this range of jobs, either paid or volunteer?