Nene Valley Railway

As discussed I did contact the railway management. It appears their response is to disallow any further charters for the time being.

I did initially consider posting my name and description but with the already posted vitriol demonstrated here I am choosing my peace of mind rather than petty forum games.

 

It’s rather odd that there has been no other adverse comments about this charter. I’ve only ever been on one charter, many years ago, where the organisation was a bit of a shambles and I went home and didn’t book on any more with that organiser. What you have done is stopped a cash strapped railway from making money out future charters but worse still, possible caused serious problems for other similar events countrywide. You have done no one any favours by contacting the ORR. If the other organisers recognise who you are it’s up to them if they keep you on the mailing list, I know what I would do.

 

Find the suggestion that someone should be punished for reporting safety concerns to the regulator in the instance that they had been brushed aside by the railway somewhat disturbing. Presumably the Nene Valley and organisers have nothing to worry about if their event was run safely in accordance with appropriate risk assessments etc (for clarity, I wasn't there so no way of knowing it it was).

Not specific to allegations at the Nene Valley Railway, but on a photo charter at Bo'ness I am often the duty Responsible Officer; as part of the safety briefing, details are provided for the SRPS Safety Officer, Chairman & Chair of the Railway Management Committee as the individuals with overarching responsibility for safety on site. I would hope that, in the instance it was felt I was ignoring safety concerns raised by a participant on the day, one of those individuals would be reachable for the individual concerned. Frankly if all of those avenues were exhausted without acceptable response I would understand if someone went to the ORR!

The biggest risk to charters isn't an accident - accidents do happen - but routine unsafe practices and 'cover ups', better to report it and work with the regulator to improve rather than to have them knocking on your door a few weeks later when they inevitably find out....

 

The thing is Martin, nobody was named by the NVR person who posted, irrespective if it was wise or not. The person concerned has taken it upon himself to break cover, albeit anonymously, and make some quite serious allegations on a forum and also report to the ORR. It would be interesting to hear from others on the charter as to what their experiences were.

 

Yet you were happy to call out one NVR official by name.

 

That’s assuming what has been said is true, no one else seems to have seen any problem, I know a couple of people who were on it. The main concern seems to have been not getting pictures in the intermittent sunshine. The ORR are a self perpetuating body that will just carry on regulating to preserve their jobs. We’ve seen that with the totally unnecessary CDL. If I had any concerns I would find the person responsible for the safety on the railway and have a quiet word but I’ve never seen anything on any railway that has given me any worry. The last thing I would do would be to grass them up to the ORR and possibly jeopardise the whole charter business.

 

I agree that dirty washing is best not aired in public.

 

I was not at the recent events with Flying Scotsman and Britannia, but I have done a couple of photo charters with the NVR Wagon group not long ago (one with 34081 and the Austerity tanks aka 'Buckets'). Enjoyed both of them, but there is one big difference to all other such events I've been on at other railways. That being the person running the day is a photographer themselves, whereas the wagon guys are not. Which they are completely honest about on the day, but could mean some people do not have their expectations met based on their experience of doing charters elsewhere. Photographers can be quite particular, so for example @Sidmouth will generally know what people are looking to get when coming on one of his events because he'll have the same things in mind too. So I can understand that someone would be disappointed if they didn't come away satisfied because of things within the organiser's control. Photo charters have gone up in cost like everything else, and the day with Scotsman was understandably more expensive than usual.

 

Unfortunately CDL would make no difference to people like that as there is no requirement to have selective unlocking which will be a problem for the Jacobite as the rear two coaches are off the end of the platform at Glenfinnan.

 

I will apologize that that is how my post came across, I was actually just trying to point out that you can't please everybody even on an organized charter, in the context of the ongoing conversation around related issues. I'm big enough to hold my hand up and say sorry that I have clearly caused offense, even though unintended.

 

Not quite the Nene Valley, but close enough:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cyvqg34lq6qo

 

Well it will be the new portal to both PNVR and Railworld Wildlife Haven, so it is technically Nene Valley

 

And it is certainly in the Nene Valley.

 

Right next to the river of the same name too.

 

Sorry to bring up photo charters again, but I've never been on a UK one and as I have expressed an interest in them recently I wonder if there is a general thread concerning charters. I'd like to get a better feel for how they operate.

Thanks in advance.

Bryan

 

they’re quite simple really. The organiser will choose the loco and stock and then book the railway for the day. Some will also have re-enactors, some won’t. The event will be advertised to the organiser’s mailing list with a description of how the day is intended to run. Once sufficient bookings have been received, the event will be declared “go”. On arrival you will receive a safety briefing and off you go. Most charters will involve travelling to the various photo locations but a small number will be followed by Road. At each location there will be a number of run bys all controlled by radio. On days of sun and cloud the organiser will usually await a sunny spell before calling the train forward so on those days there will be some waiting around for the sun to appear.

 

Also worth highlighting that when travelling on the train between locations, it will often involve climbing down from the stock to the track away from platforms - something to bear in mind for anyone with mobility issues.