North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion

I don't think that vision has been at the NYMR since the days of Philip Benham. The problem is that is now being run with "commercial vision" and all that vision can see is the route to the bottom via the lowest common denominator. I don't believe for a second that the NER carriages are coming back because they are desirable, rather the management is on a hook over them, and are trying tov find a way off it.

 

Selling of family silver it most certainly what losing 76079 is and "Laura Strangeway CEO says...." isn't going to disguise that fact. Due to legacies from benefactors the Strathspey has the funds to buy and restore it and therefore for 76079 itself it's good news. For the NYMR it is a step on the slippery slope which will soon see further descent towards a serious disposal of more assets and degrading the whole ethos of the NYMRHT.

Rumours are circulating around the staff, both paid and volunteer, that further disposals are imminent. Mulberries, Pickering Station Hotel and the white elephant of Stape have all been mentioned as surplus to requirements and, in my opinion, the latter two are certainly liabilities. The Station Hotel could have become an income generating enterprise but there isn't even enough money to develop that possibility.

The PLC itself has become the liability which is hanging round the neck of the line, choking, strangling and bleeding the life out of the railway. It is run by leeching pariahs who have no sense of heritage, no sense of responsibility, no sense of any description. It isn't just the CEO who needs to depart - we need to get rid of her sycophantic and sickening coterie of hangers-on who maintain themselves in office because they either seek a sense of spurious kudos or some sort local of celebrity status. What we need is professional railwaymen and women, not pontificating PR stooges pronouncing from the top of a pyramid of nitrogenous matter. They have turned the PLC into a personal dung heap on which only a fool would stand.

The money from 76079 will of course temporaily fill a hole in the Bridge 42 masonry, or perhaps just prop it up for a few months but it will fail to fill the now gaping black hole in the PLC 's failure of both management and structure.

So sell the Station Hotel, sell Stape, if you must sell Mulberries. However don't throw the proceeds away on more staff salaries for nonentities posing as managers but are nothing but a disgrace to those who love the line.

A way MUST be found to eradicate this verminous infestation. Let's start by selling Park Street complete with occupants. Lock, stock and unwanted baggage.

 

I thought I'd catch up on this thread following the announcement of the partial return of the Teak set on internal services, something that's been often campaigned for in the ongoing and robust dissection of the railway on here.

It's mildly disappointing that the vast majority of the posts hold no hint of optimism or celebration...

Whilst I've personally always encouraged discussion both good and bad, surely this small reversal of fortune for heritage on the NYMR can and should be chalked up as a win?!?

Sent from my moto g85 5G using Tapatalk

 

I see your point here Chris and yes, the use of the teak set should be seen as a positive but the overall view is still a very dismal prospect. Temporary and limited use of a shortened Teak set is better than nothing, but it is the fault of the current management that regular use of a full Teak rake ceased in the first place.

The fact there will be some running at the Steam Gala is obviously welcome, but I wonder if the number of visiting locos usual for such an event will be around as part of proceedings. Affordability is clearly reaching a crisis level, revenue at a very low ebb and the ability to borrow more money seemingly exhausted.

The Teak set has always been one of my favourite aspects of the line, but credit for that goes to the volunteers and benefactors of the LNERCA. The lack of regular use on the NYMR is another atrocious failing of the Park Street mafia.

Perhaps what is needed is lateral thinking. I wonder if we could persuade 81 Labour MPs to nominate Ms Strangeway to be the new leader of the Labour Party. They certainly need a PR professional and I'm sure her "skills" would be more appreciated somewhere, indeed any where else.

 

The

The return of the teak carriages to service should be celebrated, but I'd hesitate to9 chalk it up as a "win". In truth it represents acceptance that the NYMR entered into a legally binding contract with the LNERCA, and having done so they have had to honour it - so might as well get try to get some benefit from it. Let's not forget that in the meantime they have declined the offer of the GN saloon an NER open, both of which could have enhanced the train. Let's also not forget that the Chairman of the North Yorkshire Moors Historical Railway Trust (or so it was called until they expunged the word "Historical" from its title) stood up at the AGM and said "we don't need the teak carriages". To me, at least, that's a far greater battle to be won than getting the railway to fulfil its contractual obligations, and if we are to be realistic there's a huge mountain to be climbed. I'm not quite to averse to the current management as some other commentators and I'd like to see CEO given a chance to reset the underlying philosophy, because I truly believe that survival lies in wholehearted embracement of a heritage centred outlook - but she has so far given little in the way of indicating that it is her preferred route and if that is really the case then I think she needs to accept that she's not suited to the job, and make way for someone who is.

 

Tell that to the Churnet Valley Rly.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

An interesting concept. The NYMR does hire ot the railway for filming, etc. so it would not be a huge step to hire it out for a gala.

 

That has all been very quiet, which has to be unusual for such an event. I've seen nothing on what happened elsewhere other than a 'Swiss Cheese' happening and only a couple of third hand comments on what actually happened.

 

It may well appeal to a number of railways as a way to minimise risk as costs to continue to grow upwards it seems for loco movements and coal. It would really only be like a glorified Fox & Edwards event.
Talking of movement costs everything that was non resident arrived by rail at the Diesel Gala here in Swanage last weekend. Not sure if that is unique, and probably easier where diesels are concerned, but maybe a sign of the times.

 

The Gresley 100 gala was originally going to be run by the LNERCA in that way - which it was more ambitious than anything the railway has done of its own accord - but then they realised it was going to be rather a special occasion and stepped in to more or less take it over. It was the LNERCA (via myself and John Curtis) who had the idea of applying for an HLF grant to help with staging it, and it was John and myself who wrote the application

 

The NYMR doesn't need the teak coaches; that's true, but they sure as heck should want them.

 

The situation you describe would certainly be the best and least painful outcome for the NYMR, but is, I fear, unlikely to come about There is a strong suspicion that the CEO is, to some degree, a puppet of others so for real change we'll need the puppet-masters to go too. That, I think, is probably only likely to happen when they come to realise that they are rats on a sinking ship........

 

I think that the rats need to start running a bit quicker because the water is past the engine room and the bow is about to start to submerge.
My anonymous email friend who shares the newsletter and other titbits informs me that there’s a new consultant working with Phil the consultant which now means they are paying £1050 in consultant fees alone, this has been justified by the CEO as cost neutral due to existing job vacancies. She could give a politician a run for their money in spin, lies and cover ups.
The hilarious budget she put together that would see a return to profit is over £1m adrift less than a month after she proposed it and nobody has yet asked for a revised budget to show where this shortfall will be made up.
The long list of big events that was to bring in £1.5m is yet to appear, the Thomas event won’t even wash its face so that’s another loss, guest locos have been pulled already, it’s just bad news after bad news.
Staff morale is at the lowest it has ever been and quite a few are ready to walk and these are the ones that are trying to keep the place going, if they go then it is game over.
Passenger numbers are nowhere near where predicted, her predicted cost of £170k per month from not running to Whitby was about a third of the actual impact but despite having next to no income they are still blowing money.
The cost of propping bridge 42 is now over £700k and there’s still no announcement about the other ones they need to prop before they can reopen or where this money is coming from.
Kirk Oswald was brutal but didn’t go far enough. I have been told that the CEO reads this forum so from me to her here is a direct plea. Accept you have permanently damaged the NYMR, accept that you are not the right person to lead this railway going forward. Do the right thing and resign now. To the chairs, do the same. You have allowed this to happen and you need to take responsibility. Go now. To the trustees who have ignored the pleas of the staff and volunteers, refused to look at the information that has been given to you and have continued to support the CEO and the chairs please do the same. You have failed in your duty as trustees and left this charity at serious risk.
To the staff, volunteers, members and supporters that do care… please don’t give up, please keep fighting, please be ready to rebuild this when the inevitable happens. If the current leadership fights on then take your case to the Charity Commission, we have now passed the point where they can ignore it as this charity is at risk of total collapse, it’s has already lost more than 20% of its money. For those with the safety concerns take them straight to the ORR, let them do the investigating. Starmer is now seeing what his own people can do, let’s show them what we can do and force this change now while there is still a tiny bit of hope.

 

Selling Mulberries and Stape would be of no real benefit. Mulberries is in hock to Santander and Stape to the NHMF. It's the same with much of the railway.

 

Is that entirely true, though? Wasn't 76079 in hock to Santander?

 

I suspect that is because a lot of people are in the exact same boat as me: they would dearly love to see the line succeed ... but:

• They (I) see a lot of history (several years now) of the line losing a fair amount of money;
• They (I) don't see a possibility of a reversal of the course choices that have left the line losing money;
• They (I) don't see any plausible way to change the leadership personnel who are making those course choices.

That all given, they (I) logically see an inevitable eventual failure (their hopes otherwise notwithstanding). (As I pointed out several weeks back, the person who terminated their large legacy to the NYMR certainly agrees with the first two of those.)

If they (I) feel that way, I think "no hint of optimism or celebration" has to be the logical reaction to be anticipated.

Noel

 

I'm trying to remember what the big issues that divided people on the WSR were; my memory of the events is fading. I seem to recall a large share of the trouble was infighting between the PLC and WSRA (at one point both were competing to buy the trackbed from the Somerset County Council), and also there was a dustup over control of the WSRA. I'm not so sure there was a huge disagreement over the goals and direction of the WSR (although the departure of the SDRT upset a lot of people). So, I'm not sure how good the parallel is.

As I pointed out last week, the official estimate a little over a month ago was only £250K; not that I necessarily trust that, but I'm not sure I trust any number I hear now. Is there any chance you could provide some detail of where your number came from (e.g. 'my sister is married to the managing director of the firm that's doing the propping, and he has told her that's how much it will cost' or 'my brother works for a large heavy construction firm, and he reckons that's how much it would cost them to do this')? A third-hand rumour from the pub is really not much more trustworthy than the NYMR's official statement.

Noel

 

Going briefly back to 76079, at the Bluebell, obviously a different line entirely, but apparently the standard 5MT (73082) is cheaper to run on the 6 mk1 'A set' than the Standard 4MT Tank (80151), because the tank4 has to work much harder. For reference the ruling gradient is 1 in 75 with the steepest being 1 in 55. So maybe something like a black 5 is actually cheaper than a 4?

 

Well, that surprises me - my entirely subjective experience is that 80151 seems lighter work!

Tom