North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion

Usually crewed by members of the "they" department too!

 

I think you have rather shot down your own argument though! Can you operate Grosmont - Goathland shuttles without the single slip? Well yes, but only (1) if you choose a unique vehicle (the railcar) so have no operational contingency in event of failure or (2) by topping and tailing, which requires a whole additional daily loco duty and crew duty.

Which rather says that while it is technically feasible to operate without, that feasibility comes with significant operational penalties.

I'm not surprised that a run-round move that involved detraining passengers and drawing forward to run round took 40 minutes; those kind of shunt moves always take longer than you think.

Tom

 

Standard run round times in stations is 20 minutes but, when the train is in a platform, that takes place whilst people are getting off and on. The train can't draw forward until all the passengers are off and that takes several minutes. It then had to pull forward into the loop, the fireman uncouple and walk about a 100 yards to the ground frame, phone the Bobby, get a release, set the road and signal the driver. That's pretty much all the time gone or was on the day I was on the Railcar. Unfortunately the WTT for the February half term working is no longer available but it was fundamentally flawed in the times as I think the railcar was only 15 minutes behind the Whitby. I'm trying to remember the exact detail but the loco of the train from Whitby had to have run round before the Railcar arrived and, as you suggested, there wasn't enough time. Once the railcar arrived, the loco couldn't run round until it had gone, delaying things even more. This resulted in the Whitby train losing its path on the EVL. I may have got the detail slightly wrong but I'm not far off.
As you have rightly pointed out, terminating trains at Goathland now requires additional locos and crews, both of which are at a premium. As the usual reason for terminating trains at Goathland has been with Whitby trains during galas this would now require two EVL locos or a very complicated manoeuvre at Grosmont; even harder now that Pl.4 is OOU for through running.