Editorial: Loose Bearings
It is good to read in this issue that the railway is in the black financially.
What makes this all the more encouraging is that this year has been a
disappointment from a trading point of view.
Foot and Mouth outbreaks at Embsay and Bolton Abbey have not helped. When you
consider the expense the railway has had in buying the land for the extension,
the building of Stoneacre signalbox and the rebuilding of Embsay signalbox, the
shed building, etc., to get to this position is quite an achievement.
The railway's fortunes have been bolstered by a particularly good Santa train
season. Income targets were broken after the weekend of December 8th /
9th and so the final two weekends of operation were eagerly anticipated. No
doubt our Marketing Manager will report more fully in the next issue. This is
all thanks to a wonderful team effort and ddespite having two other competing
railways in the same region. The money is needed to finish the new shed and pay
for industrial quality electrical supplies.
Although this is nothing much to do with me, I feel proud to say I belong to a
solvent railway. If you read Steam Railway, you will see that one railway down
South, one of the top division lines, is in bad debt with redundancies. Size
obviously isn't everything.
One possible event that the railway could benefit from is that a film is being
made about the Rylstone WI ladies famous calendar. One of the Rylstone ladies,
Tricia Logan, was interviewed on TV recently and said that she hoped it would
turn round the fortunes of the Dales after the Foot and Mouth epidemic. Let's
hope so.
Steven Oakden
Editor
Chairman: From the Chairman
Writing this report at the close of the peak operating period, I am able to
look back on Summer 2001 as rather a 'flat' sort of year, but that simple,
bland comment disguises a terrific amount of work by YDRMT people in staving
off the worst effects of Foot & Mouth disease (FMD). Sure, we didn't
break any records this year, but we didn't record too bad a fall in revenue,
so well done everybody!
As usual, the Thomas events helped to keep cash flow bouyant and a pleasing
number of extra coach parties were received during the Summer season -
hopefully to return in 2002? Prudent housekeeping by the Financial team and
placing on hold a number of aspirational projects will be the order of the
day for the Winter 2001/2002 period, but things are not a bleak as they might
have been.
The Wartime Weekend was once again a resounding success and credit goes to the
organising team and, inparticular, Dave Hebden. This event really transforms
the railway and the whole line takes on the 1940's identity. I recommend it to
you in 2002 as a good time to visit the railway. The Wartime Weekend provides
volunteers and visitors a with a welcome antidote to the Thomas weekends where
the railway ambience is biased towards the little blue tank engine and his
admirers.
That's not to say that Thomas isn't a very welcome visitor to the line! We really
do benefit from the extra injection of hard cash gained from our continuing
involvement with Thomas. Long may it continue!
The website of the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway is now maturing nicely
with a number of changes and developments being pushed through. At the moment,
Tim Warner is developing pages aimed at attracting new volunteers to the railway
through a focus on Departments and
their activities. All I can say about this very informative and well-designed
site is look at it (if you are able) and enjoy! The site can be accessed
through http://www.embsayboltonabbeyrailway.org.uk/
As photographs elsewhere will testify, the new shed for Embsay finally looks
like a shed! The cladders finished their activities in September and have
departed the scene leaving us with a very attractive (if these buildings can
be called that) structure that does the railway great credit. The appearance
from the village of the east yard area is vastly improved by the completion of
the cladding. It seems appropriate at this time to congratulate the whole
Embsay team on delivering the building (so far!) but I think that Tony Wright
and John Garwood should be singled out for a special mention. Nice work,
everybody!
Of course the building is not as well equipped as we intend it to be so 'keep
up the good work' is the message. If you can't help out in person, why not take
another 200 Club number? A steady flow of cash is still required to fund
ongoing developments in and around the new building.
Looking ahead, we are currently gearing up for that mid-Winter cash generator:
Santa trains. This year we intend to operate three locomotives on two sets of
carriages in order to give the steam crews a break. Two steam locomotives will
be used together with the Class 20 - should be very interesting.
As the editor has just e-mailed me to remind me of the deadline for this magazine
I will close with a late news item. The Executive Committee has agreed to purchase
a loading shovel for use in coaling locomotives, loading ballast hoppers and,
with forks attached, for use as a heavy duty all-terrain forklift. The CAT
loading shovel, owned and generously loaned to the Railway by Anthony Neville
had expired a few months ago and footplate crews had been feeling the strain
of coaling up by hand using the old conveyor. The new (pre-owned) machine should
be with us for the Santa season and that will help enormously.
Departmental Report: The Shed Project
I apologise in advance if this report is rather lengthy as for various reasons
there was no report in the last magazine and there is a lot to catch up on.
The project is at present split up into three distinct areas; the progress on
each of these is as follows:
The Top Yard
In the previous news report the new embankment was complete and the form which
the project's trackwork would take could be easily visualised. After a false
start due to emergency repairs elsewhere on the railway, the P-Way have swung
into action and a tremendous effort as seen the necessary trackwork installed.
I shall leave the mysteries of P & C's and 1 in 8's to be
described in their missive. These efforts have led to the reconnection of the
first three shed roads back to the main system and seen the next point underway
which will provide access to roads four and five in the museum (and road six).
The reconnection of roads one to three (the numbering from the mainline
Northwards) was a vital stage to an extremely tight timetable to allow the second
phase of the shed to commence.
The Building
The decision to split the assembly of the building into phases was taken some
time ago, as it was unlikely that the railway could afford to complete the
entire building in the forseeable future. With this in mind the East section
of the shed base containing roads one to three was the obvious candidate for
completion. Also, mindful of the stretched labour resources of the railway, the
completion of the building would be carried out using contractors. The first
stage entailed the truing of the existing steelwork, fitting the purlins and
sheeting rails, provision of the "temporary" West end gable and personnel
doorframes. The second phase of the building, also completed, is the cladding
of the frame to provide a weatherproof building. The shape and contour of the
building is unashamedly modern (B&Q's look the way they do due to cost
rather than aesthetics) but the profile of cladding chosen reflects the
weatherbording on the old shed. Viewing the shed from the top yard I still
have to pinch myself to believe we now have this fantastic facility. Two tasks
remain: the fitting of doors and the electrical installation.
Behind the Scenes
The third part of this story is what's going on to complete the rest of the
shed. Well, the museum is subject to differing sets of grant applications, the
lengthy procedures involved in the processing of the application to the bodies
concerned is running its course and hopefully nearing completion.
The existing Midland Railway shed which stands where the machine shop and Loco
Dept's restoration area is planned, will be dismantled and rebuilding albeit
in a smaller guise at Bolton Abbey station is now generally accepted. The
importance of the building historically and our plans for its return to a country
station goods shed will attract grant monies and these avenues are being
explored. The building re-erected at Bolton Abbey will be a great asset to the
railway.
To draw this report to a close, these are exciting times at the railway and
the value and improvement to the railway this project will bring cannot be
over emphasised.
Tony Wright
The Shed Project
Converted railway wagons at Enthorpe station make a seasonal scene
for our winter edition. Photo: Stephen Crawford.
