North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion

Usually crewed by members of the "they" department too!

 

I think you have rather shot down your own argument though! Can you operate Grosmont - Goathland shuttles without the single slip? Well yes, but only (1) if you choose a unique vehicle (the railcar) so have no operational contingency in event of failure or (2) by topping and tailing, which requires a whole additional daily loco duty and crew duty.

Which rather says that while it is technically feasible to operate without, that feasibility comes with significant operational penalties.

I'm not surprised that a run-round move that involved detraining passengers and drawing forward to run round took 40 minutes; those kind of shunt moves always take longer than you think.

Tom

 

Standard run round times in stations is 20 minutes but, when the train is in a platform, that takes place whilst people are getting off and on. The train can't draw forward until all the passengers are off and that takes several minutes. It then had to pull forward into the loop, the fireman uncouple and walk about a 100 yards to the ground frame, phone the Bobby, get a release, set the road and signal the driver. That's pretty much all the time gone or was on the day I was on the Railcar. Unfortunately the WTT for the February half term working is no longer available but it was fundamentally flawed in the times as I think the railcar was only 15 minutes behind the Whitby. I'm trying to remember the exact detail but the loco of the train from Whitby had to have run round before the Railcar arrived and, as you suggested, there wasn't enough time. Once the railcar arrived, the loco couldn't run round until it had gone, delaying things even more. This resulted in the Whitby train losing its path on the EVL. I may have got the detail slightly wrong but I'm not far off.
As you have rightly pointed out, terminating trains at Goathland now requires additional locos and crews, both of which are at a premium. As the usual reason for terminating trains at Goathland has been with Whitby trains during galas this would now require two EVL locos or a very complicated manoeuvre at Grosmont; even harder now that Pl.4 is OOU for through running.

 

No, you have it almost spot on. I was on one of those trains that got locked in on the EVL, and which resulted in the Autocar doing four additional runs as a consequence.
1. In the path of the delayed Whitby train
2. Meeting passengers off the alternative Northern train
3. Additional run as some passengers from Whitby off the Northern train missed the connecting Autocar as they’d decided to go to the toilet at Grosmont
4. Additional run as some passengers waited at Whitby for the heavily (16.30) delayed steam departure from Whitby, rather than using the earlier Northern departure (and despite the repeated announcements throughout the train and on Whitby platform recommending they catch the Northern train). This delayed steam train then terminated at Grosmont, so the Autocar was pressed into for an additional run to Goathland.

 

We should also bear in mind that the NER Autocar and trailer are on hire to the NYMR, they are not based there, and the hire period is due to be up soon, I think. What will happen once they are gone? I can't see !"Daisy" providing a big attraction at a steam gala, for example! Perhaps the NYMR needs its own new-build project in the former of a Sentinel railcar!

 

Is "Daisy" fit for traffic? Either way, it seems that neglecting DMUs in the past wasn't necessarily a good long term strategy.

 

No, two of the three vehicles are stored in the barn at Pickering while the third went to Rampart in May for overhaul.

I'm not sure the NYMR have a long term strategy for anything. Use, abuse and dump vehicles when they need any work doing to them (D5061, the teaks, 101680, 101685) without any clear plan to get them running again or how to fund any repairs seems to be the common theme. Even when work does start it drags on for decades. 34101, 3672, 80135, 75029 and D5032 have been undergoing overhauls for a combined 70 years now!

 

Which takes us back to the difficult questions of “necessity”. A previous post suggested that repairing the single slip is not essential; similar arguments have been made about maintaining the DMUs. Yet those choices have then limited the options available later, making sensible contingencies overly difficult.