North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion

Maybe I imagined it but I thought I read that the Pendennis weekend services were not priced any differently to regular services?

Either way I think it's nice that others have a chance to see it out.

 

But its a different thing. By having it for the 'Rock Star' services they created an extra product which was a there and back return behind it with no option to do anything else. Which is fine if that's the only chance to go behind the engine (outside of the gala). I'm just saying if I had paid to do that, and then seen afterwards its running on the normal services where you can travel behind that and anything else that's running, and get on and off wherever you like, its a bit questionable at best. It would certainly make me question ever buying a so called 'rock star' service ticket again.

What they could of done was put a small premium on the diner for this week and commit in advance to it hauling that, rather than use it with no extra income on the regular services. Just my opinion based on the fact the railway needs money from anywhere it can get it.

 

Going from this, https://www.nymr.co.uk/tickets-experiences/whats-on/pendennis-castle-a-true-icon-of-the-steam-age/ , if you paid for a single trip behind it as a "rock star" engine, they changed the format and your ticket is / was valid for full use on all internal services on the day you booked it for

 

In isolation, that seems to be a reasonable approach, but it is part of a longer running pattern that shows the management really haven't got a clue about setting consistent fares, timetables and usage policies for ticketing - and every time they make another change it announces that lack of consistency to the world. Is this how we are supposed to define "professional marketing expertise" nowadays?

 

For once the SMT woke up and realised despite what they thought,that a castle that has worked at plenty of lines in recent years isn’t a rock star or justify premium fares ?
Nice to see steam locos ( plural) in use at the of the season after their not banned ( except in special circumstances by he who knows best ),not used summer .

 

It's OK, surely, to advertise a particular engine for a particular train, so that those that want to can be 99% sure of having a ride behind it? Unless it was advertised as "last trains before withdrawal" nobody has any right to demand that somebody else shouldn't have a ride behind it.
Anyway it's only a GW Castle, I don't personally see what the fuss is about. I don't think I've ever seen Pendennis (maybe in bits at Didcot, can't remember) but I've seen others and I certainly wouldn't make a special trip to see this one. What's special about it, other than that it has met Flying Scotsman a few times?

 

I'm pretty relaxed, but @cksteam does highlight the risk of selling something at a premium, and then offering the same thing later at an ordinary price.

 

It's not though, is it? The premium ticket is for the guarantee of certain traction. Not for exclusive use of said traction.
The riff-raff can turn up another day, and might get a King, or might get an industrial tank engine; that's part of the fun of just turning up to see what happens, and is what they've paid for.

 

It's a question of perspective - there's an implication that buying tickets for the special appearance is necessary. If you don't maintain the premium, then the risk is that people won't pay it.

 

In addition to lower fares I would also think they would see no benefit (from a service provision perspective) as to why that service needs to be steam rather than diesel.

 

Well overdue - but well done moderators.

 

The problem with the idea of using 4079 on the diner and charging a premium is that dienr tickets have been available to buy since way before the loco was planned to be available and as they are often booked well in advance you would end up with a two tier pricing arrangement. the railway certainly does seem to be getting in a mess with its timetabling at the moment with different timetables dependent on whether the loco is going to be used on dedicated services or the 'normal' service. How Joe Public keep up with it, I don't know.

 

Assuming the 60007 services have sold well enough as they remain "stand alone" at the time of typing.

No. 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley at the NYMR

 

I don't think the public do keep up with the timetabling complications, though in fairness it has been better this year than it was two to three years ago when the multi-coloured swap shop approach was further confused by days boxed or not boxed according to whether the diner was running or not.

It's been mentioned by others earlier this year but I think the fare structure needs major simplification as that is even more prone to confusion than the timetables. We need to keep it simple in both respects.

One thing I have noticed where the need for change has been recognised and acted on fairly quickly is that the "Rockstar" branding applied to visiting locos seems to have been abandoned. Perhaps some listening is starting to occur.

I've also been asked where certain quoted figures relating to NYMR finance have been sourced. Links to both the PLC and NYMR Trust accounts are below for those enquiring or otherwise interested. Both are the official NYMR documents prepared by the railway's own accounts team.

 

It's only booked for a certain number of steamings there.

 

Yeah I get that. Always difficult it not planned far enough out. I've said it earlier in the thread but if you are getting an visiting engine in for a limited time then you should be trying as many revenue streams as possible (Diner, Driver Ex, Specials etc). I remain positive that they will try more of that going forward. Other railways certainly manage it pretty well so there's plenty of precedent for it.

 

This might apply to me - probably does to a degree , at least, but on the occasions when I have said that the management is incompetent, that is of course merely just my opinion and I should stress that not everyone agrees - they don't, for a start! It is, however, my opinion based on theb evidence of the confused timetabling, etc., and I think it is reasonably valid - but might I be expected to defend it in court, against people who may look to their employer's pockets to defend themselves? It would be a very sad da in railway preservation history if it did happen, I feel, but without being prepared to take action I think it really should be a case of "put up and shut up" - or change ways to avoid the criticism!

 

Time for a little light relief

https://youtube.com/shorts/LfIj_RmjObM?is=GtsUI97Ll9lX-pxO

Sawdust.

 

I am somewhat confused as I thought "Rock Star" tickets were £35 for one specified trip so less flexible and cheaper than a regular ticket.
Not sure I see any conflict in offerings or pricing.