One step forward…
IT’S HARD to know where to start this month because as we go to press there has been a deluge of news. Let’s start with a tentatively positive piece of news; as you’ll read in Down Main, West Coast Railways has applied for another exemption for its Mk 1 stock.
At the time of writing, we do not know the details of Carnforth’s exemption application, such as whether they have agreed – like Vintage Trains and the SRPS – to a timetable for fitting central door locking, nor do we know what the Office of Rail and Road’s response will be. However, the fact that the ORR has said it will consider granting another exemption will no doubt provide a degree of comfort for railtour promoters and, more pertinently, the local businesses that rely on West Coast’s ‘Jacobite’ service between Fort William and Mallaig, which are set to resume imminently.
Cynics will undoubtedly argue that Carnforth is just kicking the can further down the road, and that it will inevitably have to succumb and fit CDL sooner or later. However, until we know more – WCR is, as expected, keeping its cards close to its chest – it’s hard to comment on whether this is truly a positive step for main line steam or not. Watch this space.
However, one chunk of woe comes from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR), which looks ready to make up to 25 staff members redundant. This is bad enough news in its own right, but as you can read in our news story on page 18, it’s not the whole picture. Looking at the publicly available accounts and report – published during September last year – there are some very poignant questions to be answered. Most notably the auditor states that “a material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on the company’s ability to continue as a going concern”.
Now hang on, let’s take a step back here – this is the NYMR we’re talking about – a line that can arguably be counted as one of our premier heritage railways, and one that seems to be increasingly bedevilled by a variety of problems. Yes, we’ve seen redundancies occur before, but this feels different, and the railway’s response, which we have published in full, doesn’t seem to say anything at all. I’ll leave you to make up your own minds – but let me go on the record as saying that it was a difficult story to both write and publish, and one that
I take no pleasure in putting on the page.
On the flipside, read our exclusive interview with the Great Central’s general manager, Malcolm Holmes. It’s one to savour, and his vision for the railway is sure to see it go from strength to strength. Remember that the Great Central Railway’s motto was ‘Forward’ – I can think of no better word for where our main line and heritage sectors should be heading; the alternative just doesn’t bear thinking about.