North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion

I thought it very unusual the appointment of the CEO saw a justification of the process printed in Moorsline. Almost as if they were trying too hard.

I wasn't impressed, at all, by her first AGM or the last one.
For the difficult situation inherited from the previous CEO an experienced railway manager would have been an obvious choice. There were many external applications, but why did they choose an insider?

 

I'm no longer a member, so didn't see that. But given previous commentary on here, I'm not surprised - one feature of the current Trust regime is an emphasis on process as the key virtue, even if the reading of the rules is, erm, idiosyncratic.

 

It seems that there are problems but maybe the solutions are also there.
As an outsider I’m not sure what the set up with the Trust is, I have read about changes and rules and all sorts of difficulties in calling a vote of no confidence and I’m really not sure what the outcome of that would be. I’m sure others on here will be in the know and able to advise.
A collapse may be for the best long term but the risks already mentioned plus the loss of what has been built up over the last 60 years would be hard to take and what emerged from the ashes would be a shadow of what this railway was a few years ago and may never get back to where it was.
However…. I don’t think that it is too far gone to recover now. From what I am hearing (and reading on here) there is a core of good people already in the organisation that are somehow holding it together right now. They need to be kept on board and they need to be able to run this railway. Other posters have referred to a strong ops team that keep the show on the road despite the apparent madness they are working in. Some things are still being done fairly well.
I am hearing better things about recent Trust appointments, maybe they have enough in them to force change.
The stumbling block seems to be a small number of people who are making the decisions and my question is how to remove them. It is clear that the current chief executive is nowhere near competent enough to be allowed to stay in post, recent results are enough to remove her from post. The current chairs must either accept that or go. The breaking point is coming and I think it will be when the impact of the shorter journeys is fully calculated and the cost of the bridge work becomes clear.
Is there a way to force the Trust to either remove the CEO or worst case the PLC whilst keeping the staff that can fix this and avoiding total collapse? That way the confidence of the bank wouldn’t be lost, there is hope of saving the assets they already have and enough of a season left to try and recoup what they can and make a sound business plan of how they are going to rebuild.

 

Do you mean formally, or informally?

Formally, the Trust board is pretty bomb-proof. The measures introduced 5 or so years ago give them the ability to reject any candidate that they disapprove of, and the result is that they are able to be pretty well self-selecting. The plc board is then subordinate to the Trust board*, and not subject to a membership vote in the way the Trust board is.

Informally, boards are made up of people. People respond differently to pressure, and that pressure may create cracks that lead to change - members may change their view, new members may not act as expected. And sometimes results cause a change of perspective. Pressure from members can be brought to bear, with canvassing, letters, etc. A well attended AGM with a strong mood can have an effect - it wasn't visible at the time, but I think that the 2024 EGM at the L&B marked a turning point, showing the then trustees that the membership could not be relied upon to support their view of how things should be, even if the subsequent changes are taking longer than I'd have hoped.

* - I am describing the legal hierarchy. I am well aware that many consider that the plc board is the tail that wags the dog of the Trust board, and make no observation as to the reality on the ground.

 

I suppose I mean formally. As someone has pointed out there does not seem to be any form of organised group that is doing anything it’s just a lot of concerned people airing their concerns / worries / observations individually on this forum (and I’m sure on others).
I’m a member of the railway, I have lost faith in the current management of the railway and have serious concerns for how long it will survive if allowed to continue down this path, I don’t want to see it collapse but I don’t want to try and overthrow the entire establishment I just want to put some pressure onto the Trust to remove the CEO. Can I do that? Can I do something to get a group of people together who want the same thing? Is there any point?
I’m just trying to get a steer on what can be done and don’t want to be just another poster who drops in for a moan but also doesn’t want to be someone who just has a go about everything but does nothing. I know a lot of people are unhappy with the current situation but so far haven’t said they have done anything.