North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion

That's interesting. That will be a lot of lost revenue because those trains were previously for sale before Bridge 42 was delayed (with plenty of seats sold). But looking at the way they'd built the Yellow timetable there isn't a path. Maybe if they've put two trains in Goathland at some point you could squeeze it in, but you would be leaving one there awhile before the second one could get out again.

It will be top and tailed. This (https://www.nymr.co.uk/mixed-traction-footplate-experience) confirms that even if the timetable doesn't.

 

My suspicion is that a big Brio set would just be too much for them to work with meaningfully - they need something simpler!

 

Every service passes at Levisham so there's no chance of fitting a diner in the layover, unless you extend the times.

 

Thats what I meant really. The only way they could get the diner in would be to have two services essentially following each other to Goathland. Then leave one there while a third passes the first one on its return through Levisham. But it would mean a long layover by the second train at Goathland before the third one arrived to release it. Maybe OK for a regular passenger train, but you wouldn't want to be stuck on the Diner in the station with everyone watching you eat. But it would also then create a big gap between regular services. So I can see why its been scrapped, though they maybe could have moved it to evenings for that period (but likely at extra cost for signalman/crews etc)

 

Levisham is not that busy is it?
Swanage diners used to spend a while in Swanage station between the two trips, and I have stewarded trips where diners have been eating in water stops or loco swaps in a station. Maybe not ideal but not really an issue.

 

I think it was A B McLeod who used his Hornby train set to develop the timetable for the combined Isle of Wight railways in the 1920s

Sent from my SM-A356B using Tapatalk

 

Agree, but read in the context of the original post.....which said 'untapped market in the North of England'. Now if it had said North-East of England, or even t'other side of them there hills!

 

Thanks for the link, I like how they advertise 'you'll receive a bottle of water to take onto the footplate' spared no expense !

 

Does £300 just for a ride on the footplate not seem excessive, when the Bluebell charge £149 for a round trip and Swanage charge £365 for a driving experience.
Although I do not think either give you a bottle of water

 

There isn't. Unless one has magically appeared this week, that is.

 

And on the blue timetable they still haven't addressed the magical change from steam to diesel at Whitby in the afternoon...

 

In my day we simply got the person a cup of tea.

 

Pickering to Bury is under a 100 miles by car, which is how most families will travel to these events. I bet there is an overlapping market area in South/ West Yorkshire conurbations. When we used to do Thomas events at Tenterden we used to get customers doing day trips from both France and particularly Belgium. The events in the SouthEast used to be co-ordinated so they didnt clash, Tenterden to Alton is the same distance with an overlap from South London.

 

Note X says may be diesel due to operational requirements against the 12:15 ex Pickering.
Note y says diesel between Whitby and Grosmont on the 16:25 from Whitby.
Seems to cover it for me.

 

There seems to be a lot of angst over the yellow timetable despite its simplicity. I'm rostered on Wednesday 1st April to do three trips Pickering to Goathland on the steam loco which is on the north end. A diesel will be on the south end, so no running round involved which is ok by this lazy fireman. There is also a dining train out that day which is not advertised as it is already pre-sold. It departs Pickering at 12.50 and has 20 minutes at Levisham to cross the second scheduled train. It then has another 20 minutes at Goathland for the reversal and 15 minutes again at Levisham to cross the last service train. Arrival back at Pickering at 15.30 gives diners 2 hours 40 minutes to enjoy their meal. Seems quite straight forward to me.

Peter

 

Google maps reckons Leeds (centre) to Pickering or Bury are both about 1 hour, depending on traffic of course.
A 1 hour drive is a fairly standard length.

 

IMHO, getting around by car is generally much easier and quicker in the north than the south so longer distances are more likely.

 

It is straightforward for the first part of the month Peter, but from 11th April an extra two services are running - the fourth trip is essentially the same path the diner is using. It's probably all irrelevant anyway as it's not possible to book a dining trip until 25th April when the bridge is meant to reopen.

 

I suspect the days are gone where, as a working volunteer elsewhere, you could email in and request a footplate ride. When I asked they were most accommodating.

 

For something like a footplate ride that costs the host railway comparatively little marginal cost to deliver, I suspect the pricing is essentially "how high can we go and still fill the available places?" On the Bluebell, we started out at £110 (so a marginal cost to the visitor, given that that also included a day rover ticket for the rest of the day, of £82). It rose pretty rapidly to the current level, but my anecdotal experience is that it remains popular and most, if not all, slots are filled. (We limit to one round trip per day even if the loco is doing more; and big locos-only because of the footplate occupancy risk assessments). At least the way we run it, it is a different experience from a driving experience. As footplate crew, I'm happy enough to have a visitor for a trip, since it essentially doesn't change the cost of operating the railway, but probably offsets the cost of about half of the coal spent on the journey that the visitor comes on.

The proof of the pudding is whether the railway fills all the slots it offers, but at first glance, given the additional length of the NYMR relative to the Bluebell, and the challenges of working a heavily-graded line, £300 doesn't seem out of order. I would want steam both ways though - I'd feel short changed by a diesel substitution for some or all of the journey, even if the small print made it clear that such was a possibility. You are delivering a luxury product, and the key thing with luxury is that quality trumps price - in other words, you have a licence to charge significantly for the service, but you must deliver what you say you will.

Tom