North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion

I suspect there will be a (colour-coded) school holidays table produced soon....

Jon

 

Incompetence written large!

 

How many steam locos will NYMR be starting their 2026 season with, and are any due to enter traffic during the year?

 

Realtime Trains | Departures from Whitby all day on 29/03/2026

Agrees with Pink Sunday timetable

Realtime Trains | Departures from Whitby all day on 26/07/2026

Does not agree with Blue Sunday timetable

 

I hope the timetable hasn't been printed yet!

Sundays are unworkable. On the blue timetable there's a collision planned between Sleights and Grosmont around 1053.
The 0930 ex Pickering cannot leave Grosmont before 1109. Would it not be best to start this at 0950?
There are other errors.

Version 2.0 next week?

 

Perhaps staging collisions is an NYMR attempt to provide something different and bring in the crowds. It would be a USP as I don't think any other railway does it.

 

Maybe they are just assuming Northern will not have any drivers or guards on a Sunday. Still an issue from what I read elsewhere.
No not a great look to get it wrong but:
1) It does not have any impact until the last week in July so I doubt anyone from the general public has really noticed.
2) They have had it proof read for free by some folks on here.

Mind you my local line has put up timetable posters on the station this week that do not align with the timetable on the internet or what has actually happened since Thursday. Not really the end of the world, mistakes happen in "real life" as well. Made plenty on my contracts over the years.

 

We all make mistakes. Of that there is no doubt. It is the number of them that gives cause for concern. However, I guess if you divide the total number of mistakes by the total number of empolyees, it might be a reasonable number.

 

Isn't the Northern dispute only the North West staff not the North East? They are on two different contracts the NE one rosters Sunday working but the NW is classed as overtime.

 

Doing Crash, Texas every Sunday. Until morale improves.

 

Not currently in dispute over Sundays at present but discussions were on going until recently. Correct There is contractual differences between the 2 sides but both sides Sundays are overtime as they are outside the working week.

 

1. If they cant keep people on the railway who do they think is going to buy the 'donation fare'. They have made most of the traffic Pickering to Whitby (and return). To use the voucher you have to get off the train and use a shop or tea room (not the train buffet iirc). Why would any of those passengers bother with spending more on the donation fare?
2. I hate booking fee's! I am literarily making there job easier by booking early. Why am I being charged for that? I hate it enough on the rare time I use ticket master (and others). Its just another thing to put me off.
3. For those paying on the day, do they really expect the poor people in the booking offices to be able to explain this confused system quickly? At the last steam gala I managed to confuse the poor guy at the till by simply being a member because they had changed the till setup for the event. From no queue when I started there were around 15 people waiting behind me when I finally got a donation voucher that I hadn't even paid for.

When will they understand simple and clean is best. You are selling an experience. If the first impression is 'confusion and delay' you've created a hill to climb up to have happy customers.

 

I'm sure there is someone more in the know but from what I've seen and read below is my thoughts in no particular order. I suspect they will be a bit thin early on with the picture improving as we move into the season.

926 Repton - Waiting for the return of driving wheels, also had a partial retube. Will be available in '26 but not sure about the very start of the season.
44806 - Should be available from the start of the season
29 - Should be available from the start of the season
45428 Eric Treacy - Tender Wheels away for reprofiling. Not sure if they will be back and fitted before start of season
63395 - Main engine away at Leaky Finders, also needs new tender tyres. Will be available later in the season
No 8 Lucie - Available
92134 - Currently available for traffic at GCR. Originally due to return in March so should be available, unless kept there for longer.
65894 - Currently at Embsay where I'd bet it will stay
80135 - Under overhaul - I suspect will be next year (2027)
2253 Omaha - Oil conversion, due to be available any time now but will need running in and crew training
825 - Due at some point in 2026.

Other engines under overhaul are all further down the pipeline- 75029, 3672, 34101


Apologies if I've missed anything.

 

I don't think 80135 will be back this year, as the boiler is still a kit of parts.

It does look very tight loco wise once again. 31128 is off to the Chinnor diesel gala the week before the season starts but I'm sure it'll be back the following week. Otherwise, the only Whitby locos will be 44806 and 37688. Not ideal.

 

Why will 30926 and 45428 not be ready at the start of the season as Whitby locos? - they are not huge reassembly jobs once the wheels are back, even retubing 30926 shouldn't take that long. But, even if they are not, two Whitby steam locos is twice as many as there have been at times in recent years!

 

Isn’t 37688 a diesel? In which case it is only one steam loco?

Reassembly and running in of a steam loco after significant maintenance isn’t a five minute job either. Though I suppose the answer to the question “how many steam locos will they have at the start of the season?” is at least dependent on the question “realistically, when do you think the start is?”

Tom

 

A post on the MPD Facebook page today shows Reptons driving wheels have returned post tyre turning.

 

Because every year it's the same story. They never get winter maintenance completed in winter. 92134's winter maintenence continued until just before the autumn gala last year. Even now they're still stripping locos apart that are needed in a month. They would appear to struggle with carrying out annual maintenence, running maintenance and overhauls at the same time. Another effect of Whitby operations?

The Grosmont MPD Facebook page stated a couple of weeks ago 45428 was in the process of being stripped for (yet another) piston and valve exam, and a couple of weeks earlier posted that the rear drivers had been removed to investigate wear. Yes, the start of the season is a month away, but can you honestly see it being ready? Also 44806 has been split for maintenence and drawbar checks. Should go back together quickly, assuming no problems are found. If there are...

As it stands, the only operational steam locos on the line are 29 and Lucie! The first diner is in 29 days. 4 days later the season starts, and in theory requires 3 steam locos and one diesel per day. I hope they're ready, but history shows that it'll be very tight.

 

Unfortunately you're not wrong.

 

Personally I think its a symptom of having such a long closed period. If they were running something at weekends through the Winter for example it would force them into a more rolling maintenance program rather than putting bits off until the closed period when they strip everything at the same time. Even with the reduced timetables in action these days this particular railway still needs a lot of engines. Yet at Winter time they don't have a whole extra team of fitters becoming available. Or a whole extra shed to strip the engines apart in. I would think it a lot more practical to divvy people up between rolling maintenance, overhauls and exams and just keep the same numbers of people in those teams. Maybe you might have to keep the Whitby specific engines major maintenance during the Winter season (depending on how many you have), but I can't think of any reason why they are all done at the same time.

At least the driving wheels on Repton are back, which 'should' make that engine available for the start now.