North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion

Exactly! The charitable purpose is framed around the social benefit it confers on those volunteering not the economic benefit to the railway. The NYMR is encouraging, training and relying on volunteers so how do you come to the conclusion that it is not fulfilling that charitable objective?

 

Your own words about the working structures in the railway.

 

Might I suggest, overriding all else any business, be it a charity or not, its management has a number of ordered priorities. My view is straightforward and they can only be: Priority One - don't kill anyone. Priority Two - Don't run out of money (or you're put out of business by your creditors for nonpayment and lost your railway into receivership). Priority Three, onward = don't really matter if you fail in Priority Two. Hayho. Mike.

 

The railway is also a registered museum, I would suggest it is failing both as that as as well as being a charity for the reasons you describe by not adequately maintaining either the infrastructure or the rolling stock.
If income has not returned to previous levels then it is not unethical to say make a third of the staff redundant if by doing so it secures the long term future of the remaining employees.
Trying to soldier on as you are, in a doom loop of managed decline will ultimately end in complete failure.
As I told you (I think it was 7 or 8 eight years ago) you were and still are spending too much on people and not enough on things and I believe this still holds true only you have very little time left to change direction. I also said I wasn't going to give money to an organisation to in effect subsidise the wages of people who earn more than I do. You have squandered huge legacies left to the railway, as evidenced by the increasing list of knackered locomotives and rolling stock.
You want people to donate money for the overhaul of 75029, do you really think those that gave money for 80135 are going to dip their hands in their pockets again?

Sawdust.

 

Are you familiar with the term/concept "self-licking ice cream cone"? Those bodies are funding the NYMR in part because it employs a lot of people - in other words, they are helping to create the thing they want to help. What will happen if that music stops? The ice cream cone may lick itself, but it can't make itself.

Noel

 

It's been 17 years since the Bridges and Wheels appeal was launched, and still no sign of the latter part appearing. Maybe the railway are hoping people have forgotten about it. Even with a substantial donation a few years ago, it doesn't look like the loco will be back for quite a while.



If a fully funded overhaul is going to take 4 years to complete, how long will one take that's only raised £15,000 so far?