Contents

- Editorial - From the Chairman - Motive Power Variety - An Enigma Partly Solved - Manchester - Carlisle Steam Special - No. 70 at work - Departmental Reports No. 29 climbs strongly away from Stoneacre during June 2000. Photo: Steven Oakden.

Value for money
So you want a day at the trains, a full day out. What do you do, book a mainline special or travel around some of the lines in the North West? You could do the East Lancs, Worth Valley and Embsay in a day. You might spend £17 in fares doing this and get 36 miles of steam haulage. But then you have to drive about using lots of petrol.

So where can you get 50 miles of steam haulage these days for £6?

Well, just come to Embsay for the day. An all day ticket costs £6 - the same as a round trip at Keighley, it's the same distance ride yet if you want to travel all day at Keighley you need a day rover for £8, that's good value, but not as good as Embsay. At the East Lancs a day rover will cost you £15, a lot as their line is 8.5 miles long whereas the North Yorkshire Moors costs only £10 and it's 18 miles long.

If you come to Embsay in main season you can ride behind two different engines and you may well get a change of crew during the day which will allow you to compare engine handling and performance on different trips. At £6 Embsay's got to be superb value.

Spread the word!

Class 20, 20 189 came to the railway to act as spare engine for the Santa Specials. In order to keep it in good fettle it was used each weekend for a couple of round trips. Here it is on Sunday 17th December. Photo: Andrew Wilson

A number of prophesies were made in my Report for Issue 69 of YDR News so I guess that it would be useful to see if they came true!

The Santa services, operated in the traditional manner, proved to be the success that we have come to expect - astute marketing and dedication by our volunteers being the key - but we are not going to rest on our laurels. It is a highly competitive market and we do well to keep the business at the level we enjoy. So, well done all concerned.

The final weekend before Christmas was an unknown quantity. Our volunteers had indicated, at an operations planning meeting, that staffing a full weekend, of which one day would be Christmas Eve, would be a problem. We didn't know what level of patronage to expect as many people were not expected to venture far from home, particularly on the Sunday.

A decision was made to offer the weekend to Stephen Middleton for operation of 'seasonal gourmet goodies' Vintage Trains. It was something that Stephen was very keen to do in order to assess the market for this type of service. The product offered to the visitor over the weekend was very good but I don't believe that, commercially, it lived up to expectations.

9th December and this is the view from the train of top yard works. The newly widened and stabilised embankment awaits trackwork laying. The three road shed framework visible beyond. Track components are stacked by the running line. Photo: Steven Oakden

Much progress is being made with the new shed and yard for Embsay and, whilst it is very encouraging to see this progress, it is even more encouraging to see the whole railway pulling together to achieve the new facilities. We are all very motivated about our railway (we must be otherwise we wouldn't be members) and sometimes the motivation for a 'pet' project can obscure the view of the bigger picture. My message is: keep up the pressure and the pace; we could have an initial three track building by late Spring.

Looking the other way 68005 climbs past the newly widened embankment that will take a headshunt allowing shunting of the new shed yard to be done independently of the main running line. Photo: Steven Oakden

How can everyone help achieve this, particularly if they cannot work at the railway? Simple. Join the 100 Club and/or send in the Standing Order.

Members of the Executive Committee have recently met with Embsay with Eastby Parish Council to discuss a number of concerns that the Council had relating to the railway. A very productive meeting put in place certain arrangements that will help future communication and we came away with three matters that cause the most upset in the village. These are car parking on event days, the new station sign and the damage caused by low-loaders to a piece of land off Shires Lane. Our response is to commission a new sign and re-use the existing LMS-style one elsewhere on site. To arrange for the haulier to make good the repair and to re-seed and re-plant but, as for the car parking, it is a long term problem that we are continually striving to solve. Further effort will be required in future to deal with this problem.

Could I ask members: if you visit during the Thomas weekends please do not park in Embsay village, try Bolton Abbey.

You will no doubt read elsewhere in YDR News about the damage sustained on the railway as a result of the October floods. Suffice it to say that we only lost one day of operation down to Bolton Abbey when trains had to terminate at Stoneacre plus the washed-out Bonfire Night. A real team effort got the damage repaired and I should like to thank all concerned for their efforts. Well done.

140
As recounted elsewhere in this issue, 140 has recently had to have a major overhaul of its axleboxes. In Aril 1999 it pulls away from Bow Bridge sending a group of geese waddling away from the beck. This section of line is not currently in use due to bridge repairs. Photo: Steven Oakden.

DMU

The DMU is now a three car set. In its two car guise the unit runs into Embsay during mid week operations in 1999. Photo: Pete Walker.