North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion

Just looked in on the Grosmont webcam and 5428 appears to be on the dining train, not sure about any diesel assistance? Has there been a significant rainfall overnight or is just providing steam heat? Any comments appreciated.

 

Now replaced by diesel.

 

I think they have got one in Steam as a Whitby thunderbird. Helpfully they used Eric to shunt the diner back from platform 2 to 4 yesterday just as the family and I were there. So at least we got a hint of steam...

 

I think the idea is to provide a steam loco as a show item for visitors. It may be used for shunting but not to go out of station limits. Looking to next weekend for a partial re- introduction of steam, depending on how wet it is during the week.

 

Makes sense. My daughters were certainly both very thankful for seeing it. Especially when they got waves from all of the crew.

 

I’m in East Yorkshire at the moment (albeit about an hour down the coast from Whitby) and we’ve had some sustained rain overnight the last two nights. Still dry during the days so I wouldn’t expect it to be safe for full steam yet but it’ll be a bit better than it was

 

Let's hope we get a bit of relief from the drought.

A Black Five is in steam this morning (BH Monday)

 

Just in case anyone forgot what steam was on the NYMR, 80136 has been out on test to Goathland today. Steam should *hopefully* be returning on Saturday to Whitby for now, unsure about the other 18 miles

 

Seen today at Huddersfield, heading to Grosmont
https://x.com/SteelCityDog_/status/1929821285577560215?t=w_CIHBmCejSIqEMZXWQSBA&s=19

 

Looks like some steam returning on the 'internal' services too? Looking at the webcam 44806 is currently sat on the front of the 13:30 ex Grosmont with a diesel (37264?) on the rear.

 

Yes, passed Goathland webcam, 44806 & 37264 top & tail, assume 37 will lead back.

 

44806 is being run in after some work and I guess this was a good excuse to put it on a train rather than just a light engine. Same planned for tomorrow.

 

5428 is doing all 4 whitbys today
44806 will be paired with 31466 on the 1030 and 1440 out of Grosmont and 1200 and 1610 from Pickering

 

It entered my brain that I never saw passenger numbers for NYMR in 2024. A little research suggests they were also not published for any years since Covid, even in the annual report submitted to companies house. This seems rather strange… does anyone know why? Or what the numbers are?

 

A covering letter recently sent to a new member states "we receive over 100,000 visitors every year"

 

I’ve asked the question elsewhere and got no answer. I was at a meeting yesterday when the question of visitor numbers was asked by someone else. The essence of the response was that it’s immaterial and it’s the income that is important. No figures given.

 

I’m sure Lineisclear has previously said that the figures would be published or were available on request. Maybe someone is a bit scared of what the figures might reveal?

 

Thanks Steve. That is a great shame, when they are pretty easy to find for every comparable railway, or indeed non-railway attractions. It has taken me less than five minutes to get numbers for both Flamingo land and Eden Camp.

47406's point that it is 'more than 100,000' has to be true. Surely... but it is a big jump between that and the 350,000 claimed in the lottery bids! Perhaps @Lineisclear could offer a number for either 2023 or 2024?

 

The previously oft-quoted 350,000 passengers per year is a long way above that figure. I'm guessing it's going to be a darn sight closer to the former than the latter. SVR figures for 2023 are about half what they were in 2019.

 

I’ve heard from a couple of sources that the 350k figure was a figment of imagination. Perhaps that’s why they are so secretive about the subject. Railways used to quote passenger journeys once upon a time but I don’t think that’s the case with heritage railways these days. HMRI used to want to know how many visitors you had and the HRA collected that figure on its behalf but that seems to have gone by the board these days.