Wartime railway

Every year the North York Moors Railway has a wartime weekend. We are attending for the third time this year. The idea is to organise a number of events and exhibitions at the stations along the NYMR route. A particularly large event is held at the Pickering terminus where the whole town is “en fete.” We feel a particularly close association as both Martin and Alex are volunteers and this year, although strictly underage ( they start at age 10 ), Ellen was allowed to join in.

Because Lindsey and Martin were away watching Dave Gorman earlier we could only go on Sunday. Unfortunately the weather was miserable as it rained heavily all day. As a result we abandoned our original plan and travelled from Whitby to Pickering and back again only briefly alighting at Pickering station. This was so crowded and miserably wet that we reboarded the train on which we had arrived for the return journey. The train wasn’t as crowded as previous years but we were still pleased to get seats all together.

We had prepared a picnic and in the event ate aboard the train. This was dry and comfortable. We also had coffee on the train as experience had shown all the station cafes would be packed. For a major part of the return journey I sat opposite a couple from Brighton. As part of the experience many dress in either wartime uniforms or forties dress. This couple certainly looked the part. When I commented they admitted they had the benefit of the ladies sister running a retro stall in Brighton. It was their first experience of such an event although in the past I have talked to people who make it their hobby to go from event to event around the country.

The NYMR is one of the larger heritage railways. They don’t just have steam but also diesel loco’s and a wide variety of rolling stock. This includes a diesel multiple unit which was running a shuttle between Pickering and Levisham the next station on the line. The NYMR actually finishes at Grosmont south of Whitby. However as a concession they run twice a day into Whitby on National Rail lines, At Grosmont the National Railway heads off to Teeside. The NYMR don’t just have ordinary rolling stock but also such curiosities as a large steam crane.

As Martin pointed out they have more loco’s than they can comfortably handle. One project is to restore the named engine “Vera Lynn” which would be so appropriate for the wartime event. At present the priority is to rebuild some bridges as obviously this is both expensive but vital. .A very ingenious idea this year was to present the program and timetable in the form of a mock ration book

On our journey we were hauled by the Black 5 “Eric Treacher”. I was an avid train spotter when I was between about 11 and 13. The Black 5 class was then probably the most common loco running on the LMS region. It is a sad commentary that although glamorous steam is both dirty and inefficient. British Rail clung onto steam for far too long. The final steam loco’s were built in the mid 60’s. There are now no loco’s built in the UK with other railways switching far sooner. Although the latest high speed trains give a wonderful consumer experience they are largely French technology certainly as used on HS1 and the planned HS2.

One technology British Rail started but abandoned was the tilting train. As a result we now ride on the Italian built Pendolino on the West coast main line. It seems almost farcical that the APT had to be dropped because it could clash with other rolling stock when tilted. This seems a rather basic design error.

Musical jest

Definition of a gentleman- someone who knows how to play the bagpipes but doesn’t