North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion

Love the 31s, brings back memories of riding on the 1847 York to Scarborough in the 80s in compartments dimly lit or hardly at all. Very atmospheric.

 

I have many fond memories of 31s - from hearing them slogging away on the ECML on cold and frosty dark nights on goods trains in the 1970s to riding in the cab of 31 128 on the Nene Valley Railway's Fletton branch.

 

Local name for the 31 was “Brian” as in “the snail”. I was sorry to see them go from the Bham Norwich trains, but the freight ones were knackered. Watching 3 running in multiple struggle to leave Bescot with a load that a 47 would have laughed at is a strong memory too. Never a big fan myself.

 

And yet only today have I heard of trains with double-headed 56s and a 66/59 double-heading. I was speaking to the photographer over lunch!

 

How many marketing staff does the NYMR actually employ then? Because the stuff the railway puts on social media is very standard, bland promotional stuff - nothing especially clever, quirky or entertaining. So if that’s the work of 3 people and a consultant… what a waste of resources. Fire all of them and employ one competent person on a decent wage.

And regardless of whether or not it is true that it took all morning for the in-house marketing staff to draft a statement about the steam ban and get it to a consultant to sign off, the fact that it took so long to publicise on the day, when it was known the previous day that it was happening, is properly rubbish. The statement that eventually went out wasn’t particularly great anyway.

The decision to go fully diesel surely wasn’t made at 5pm the night before it took effect, was it? So why wasn’t a statement drafted then warning people that “From tomorrow…” this would be happening? Or was it a deliberate move to avoid putting people off…

I know it’s easy for those on the outside to criticise but let’s be real: It’s hard to reconcile the arguments on the previous page that the current level of paid staffing is essential when it appears that some of those paid staff lack basic competency?!

I actually would expect an organisation the size of the NYMR to have someone paid doing marketing. Maybe even one full time and one part time. But I would also expect that person to be fully capable of drafting a professional, grammatically correct statement themselves - that should be part of their JD.

 

There have been a number of strong views expressed on this thread about the NYMR and what it should or should not be doing. I have no doubt that many of the issues raised will also be the subject of keen but private debate within the NYMR board(s) and management. I have not visited the railway since 2012 and, as someone viewing from afar without any special insight into NYMR matters, I cannot readily judge the validity of many of the arguments put forward. But perhaps I can be permitted to make some generalized observations.

Firstly the matter of fares, where the apparently standard adult fare is £49.50 for Pickering to Whitby (24 miles?). Within recent weeks, I have had return trips on the WSR (£34 for 20 miles), GWSR (£28 for 14 miles) and SVR (£31.50 for nominally 16 miles, albeit curtailed at present). On a simple cost per mile basis, the WSR looks the best value from this selection. Of course, mileage is only one factor to be considered in fare setting. If the NYMR's Whitby trains are well-filled, then arguably the price is justified as what the market will bear. We obviously have to also consider the prices charged for families, where the cost of multiple tickets may mount up and become unaffordable.

The NYMR is in a very rural location, with the nearest large population centres of York and Middlesborough both about 25 miles from the railway. I wonder what effect this has on the ability of the NYMR to obtain staff (both paid and volunteer)? Although many people are willing to travel long distances to work, it must surely be easier for a heritage railway if they are close to a large population.

Heritage railways face staffing challenges both on the paid and volunteer fronts. Finances may have been knocked for six by Covid and by the many cost increases for overhauls and repairs, fuel, regulatory needs, minimum/living wage, employers' national insurance, etc. Customers are impacted by cost of living issues in a country that has never fully recovered from the 2008/9 financial crisis. Because of the tight financial position, the NYMR and other railways may have to make do with fewer paid staff (although the key factor here is not the number of staff but the overall pay-bill - part-time and seasonal staff may cost little).

At the same time, it is a fallacy to necessarily assume that volunteers will always be readily available to cover essential work. There have been a number of comments in the forum about railways finding it more difficult to find volunteers. This is backed-up by research into the wider topic of volunteering. A recent government "Community Life Survey" found that, within England, the number of people volunteering at least once a month fell from 27% in 2013/4 to 16% in 2023/4. Covid will have had some impact here, particularly for older people. Heritage railways volunteer staff often include many older and retired people, who may be affected by a couple of other factors. Firstly, the increasing tendency of people to stay in paid work beyond retirement age, and secondly by increased childminding by grandparents, because parents need to work to pay the mortgage/rent and cannot afford childminding costs.

https://www.gov.uk/government/stati...vey-202324-volunteering-and-charitable-giving

So how should heritage railways respond if they have to make do with fewer staff, both paid and volunteer? Cut-backs in service are likely, in terms of fewer operating days and/or fewer train services on operating days (which may reduce required numbers of locos and coaches). But however well such an approach is managed, it will be difficult to avoid overall loss of some custom and income, which won't help to cover fixed infrastructure overheads. Typically, I have visited the SVR several times a year, but last year only went once because their 2024 off-peak timetable was sparse and didn't have trains at convenient times for me. More use of diesels is another option, but will deter some customers who particularly want steam. Some railways may be able to limit operations to a shorter section of line, but I cannot think of any following that path. Things become tricky if a main visitor attraction (such as Whitby) or a main operating and engineering base (such as Grosmont) is at the other end of the line from where most passengers start.

 

I don’t know when the decision was made to go all diesel but I do know that the operating department put out the next days loco roster internally at 17.00 and it was a normal steam hauled service so it would be after that time that the decision was made.

 

Particularly as the last train of the day from Grosmont to Pickering at 17.45 was still steam hauled, and which subsequently formed the 9.20 the next day back to Grosmont to at least return it back to shed. If the decision had been made earlier then I would have expected that 17.45 to have also been diesel.

 

I think all of that is absolutely correct. At an individual railway level many of the comments in this thread are correct about what responses could be logical.

Very sadly, my view at a macro level is that not all current heritage railways can survive. As to which will not I couldn’t say, but it is I think likely to be those that fail to remain attractive to volunteers and fail to be commercially flexible.

I think we cannot allow fear of outside circumstances to dictate what our response will be. We cannot be prisoners of the exterior macro economic cycles. If we do we might as well “go home” now. Some railways may not make it, but let’s make that the exception not the rule?

 

Does this 'cheaper to produce' cost of the new style Moors Line include the costs of (presumably) employing CAB PR and the design agency, Instruct Studio? The cost of posting a larger magazine must be more expensive too.

 

Another strange development.

The diesel gala is now excluded from the annual pass, while the steam gala is included in the annual pass.

It was the other way round last year!!

 

Will be lots of 2024 passes still valid in June …only those with foresight will have purchased in October 2024 …

 

As said by D7076, it’s quite logical and sensible, given the fact that annual passes are no longer available. By September there will be few of them still valid to be used. I’m sure it was also mentioned somewhere up thread quite a while ago.

 

44806 showing on Moorlander today, hopefully a gradual return to steam?

 

I suspect the decision has been made due to the fall in temperature and the need to heat the diner as a consequence. At least it appears to be raining heavily.

 

Grosmont webcam showing 44806 on Moorlander set. Fingers crossed for more steam if conditions allow.

 

926 will be out from tomorrow as well

 

Ah good, I did see it in steam in the yard on Saturday.

 

Hot spare for the Class 31, prepped and maintained in light steam in case it was required for the Whitby services
(Although as it happened, on Saturday the first Whitby had to be cancelled owing to a Network Rail Block failure).

Thankfully not needed given how dry the branch was at the weekend, some nice fires set by the 5X on that section previously.

 

Yes, I spotted two sizeable burn areas either side of MP 26.5.