North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion

I think whatever you paint the logo on it’s a pretty dreadful idea, and one which isn’t likely to enhance the brand image of the company or the NYMR. Naming the locomotive and placing advertising within the carriages, that might work, but I can’t see this being well received by the public im all honesty.

 

The railways SMT have lost the plot in their desperate attempts to improve the bottom line. What has happened to the railways heritage and living museum that they keep bleating on about?

 

With current rate of funding, the loco won't steam before 2038 anyway. Plenty of time for a few changes of management before then.

 

I may have said this before pages ago but talking to a friend a while ago they said that he and his wife would usually visit the NYMR three or four times a year but they have gone more this year using the 12 month gift aided ticket. Based on their example the railway would normally have got 6x£49.50 = £297.00 in fares but actually got £99.00 + £24.75 =£123.75, a ‘loss’ of £173.25 I wonder how many people similarly would normally have travelled more than once and paid the full fare? I’m told that there is one person who has travelled over 100 times using his 12 month pass. Even if he would have only travelled twice under previous circumstances it’s still a loss of revenue.

 

I stand by my view that it’s the averages that count, not the specifics. But what @Lineisclear said recently suggests strongly that, once the scheme bedded in, those averages didn’t work for the railway.

The change of policy for Gift Aid eligible fares wasn’t therefore bad in itself. But combining it with a material price hike, restricting the availability of intermediate fares had a predictable result. Changing horses mid-year was the right thing to do - but the way it’s been done doesn’t give confidence in the strategic direction. This sponsorship opportunity reinforces that sense of panic - that cash is all that matters. Were I approached as a potential sponsor, I’d then be very keen to explore how that sponsorship would be used, and how my name would appear - and when.

 

If I thought plastering a company name on the side of an engine was a good way to go I think I would have made targeted approaches to a few companies rather than advertise publicly like this the opportunity. It does rather lend an air of open desperation which I think might be unhelpful.

 

Maybe key locations around the railway could sell naming rights, like they do for sports stadiums?

"The North Yorkshire Moors Railway welcomes you to the Sports Direct Train Shed - presented by Betfair - here in Pickering. We hope you have a pleasant day with us. We're all just waiting now for the Tissot Timing clock to count down to departure time, when the ref, sorry guard, will blow his whistle and we'll be on our way. But before he does, perhaps you'd like to take a bet on whether we'll reach the summit today? Recent form has been patchy, so our presenting sponsor Betfair is offering 4-1 on needing a blow up before Goathland. And what's more, bet £10 or more and get a free bet on whether your onward journey to Whitby will be hauled by steam or diesel - with those odds you can't lose!

[Remember to bet responsibility, and set yourself limits. When the fun stops - stop]."​

Tom

 

Why not go the whole hog, following Swiss precedent - https://rail.pictures/picture/45161

 

If GA was £400k, that would be £1818 per day, over 220 days of the season. The equivalent of 36.7 people per day, or just over half a carriage. 18.5 people per outward morning departure ex Pickering to Whitby.

 

Haven't you got your sums wrong? Gift aid is 20% of the fare, not the full fare.

 

Solvite Black 5 comes to mind.

 

Just checking the logic, your suggestion is that if there were 8,074 (220 * £36.70) "repeat" journeys made on the GA ticket, that would wipe out the £400k made in Gift Aid?

If so, then the calculation also needs to consider how many of those were journeys that would have happened anyway (as in the examples from @Steve), and how many came about because of the opportunity of free travel.

As I've argued before in a slightly different context, the assumption that all of the reuse was income foregone risks ignoring both the encouragement of return visits because they're effectively free, and also the encouragement of any visit at all because of the potential of reuse.

My hunch, reinforced by the arguments about the risk of overcrowding on a 5 day railway, is that the £400k was an initial upside, at least fully eroded by reuse later in the season and into the following season, but I suspect the numbers are complicated.

 

However just because it has not been done before does not mean it will not.
Think F1, Cycling and even test cricket where you would have thought the old fogies at Lords would have put a stop to it.

So who would become the UAE Cycling Team of the Heritage Railway World with a budget so large they could snaffle all the best locos.

My take on the top 3 (with sincere apologies to those with no interest in Cycling)

UAE Bluebell or GCR
Visma The other one of the above
Red Bull Bora MHR,ELR, or NYMR

 

How much is Tornado per day? Tomorrow there's 67 on the morning departure and 21 on the afternoon. The full price is £30 for a Pickering to Grosmont return.
The railway is shown as closed today on timetables but it's now open just for these trips. If I travel tomorrow I can save £19.50 rather than visiting on Saturday and paying the standard fare.

That's how to make money, not!