Mid-Norfolk Railway outlines leadership changes

THE management of the MidNorfolk Railway (MNR) is to be restructured. As part of the plan, the post of general manager is made redundant from December 31. Current GM George Saville has been offered a new parttime position at the railway from January 1. It has been decided that the general manager’s role, as currently constituted, has become too broad a task for any one person to carry out.

A new leadership team will be established to take over the day-to-day running of the railway, provide all working members with a direct line of communication to management and ensure that communications generally within the railway are improved.

Management

A new full-time post of operations manager will be created – applications for which closed on October 28. It is intended that the new appointment will take effect on January 1. Derek Orr, the current volunteer operations manager, will be stepping down on the same date. Steph Garthwaite, the current deputy general manager, is due to continue in her volunteer capacity to ensure that the introduction of the new operations manager will be as straightforward as possible. She will act as the line manager for the various individual departments and be the link between them and the trust council.

Governance

The trust council of the MNR Preservation Trust, which operates the line, will remain as the overarching strategic management organisation of the MNR. The trust council members will therefore continue to be elected from the membership of the MNR Preservation Trust.