Nope, fraid not.
How do you like your jubilees, red, or black???
Who do you think it is?
1. It lacks working, interesting steam locos. Like it or not, steam always attracts lots more "casual" / non-enthusiast visitors than diesel locos or dmus; fine scenery alone will not bring enough paying customers.
Whilst I wish them well, I fear that Wensleydale Railway is always liable to struggle to attract visitors.
1. It lacks working, interesting steam locos. Like it or not, steam always attracts lots more "casual" / non-enthusiast visitors than diesel locos or dmus; fine scenery alone will not bring enough paying customers.
2. Access by public transport is very poor.
3. The local population is not huge.
Once the sale has been completed, the name of the buyer (and the price paid) will be in the public domain, obtainable for the price of a search in the Land Registry.
The whole episode indicates desperation - quick sale rather than waiting for the property to be marketed properly and taken to auction. .
How do you like your jubilees, red, or black???
The J72 belonging to NELPG has been running at the Wensleydale for a few seasons now and will probably be operating the Santa specials.
You're certainly an optimist, TheBeard, but I don't see any of that coming to fruition.
Where are the steam locos coming from?
Who's paying to bring them in?
Who's going to permit their extended stay unless covered accommodation is provided?
Who pays for the covered accommodation to be built?
How long will it take to get planning permission and have it in-situ before long-term residence for steam locos is a genuine option, given the line seems to now be pinning its hopes on more regular services and steam traction? Surely that's a vital, short-term priority?
When is any of the track on the section you mentioned being relaid for this "scenic" journey - given that none of the current route actually falls within the tourist trap of the Yorkshire Dales but is more of a footnote to the route in and out of its eastern flank from the A1? With the greatest of respect, very few tourists are going to go out of their way to take a train finishing up at Leemings Bar, or even to Redmire.
How are enough visitors to be brought in for services on the existing route to make the initial impression with the public necessary for regular steam services, with their added running costs?
There are so many factors that are stacked against the success of the proposals.
Methinks you've been hoodwinked. I admire your optimism, but you're having a laugh if you think the sale of Aysgarth is going to have anything other than a negative impact on the railway's medium to long term viability.
The Wensleydale just sold its sword to the executioner.
Except that nearly everything in this thread is pure supposition since nobody here knows who the buyer is, what their intentions are for Aysgarth or whether they have any ambitions for the WR.
I think that the Wensleydale could make a lot more of Redmire it's a very attractive area with short walks to Castle Bolton, the river valley below the village and even the village pub. The station really needs maning and some basic facilities. I've arrived back for the last train a couple of times and it really does feel like you've arrived at a disused freight terminal
Except that nearly everything in this thread is pure supposition since nobody here knows who the buyer is, what their intentions are for Aysgarth or whether they have any ambitions for the WR.
If you read your way through the thread, you should have put 2 and 2 together by now.
Except it's the worlds worse kept secret and many on here know only too well who the buyer is.
I've read my way through the thread, attempted to put 2 and 2 together and failed to make sense of it.
What is the obvious answer I am missing ?
Redmire is a disused freight terminal. Apart from the pub, ten minutes walk into the village (which is excellent by the way) there are no facilities at all - not even somewhere to shelter from the rain. That was the whole point of the Aysgarth Ambition - Aysgarth was the somewhere that people would want to go.
The Queen has had more than one of them. This guy has a red one.
He has a red Corgi? Interesting...!
Ah. I won't say who it is, but do they own any suitable industrial engines they might use on the "private railway?" I doubt a mainline engine would be of much use.The Queen has had more than one of them. This guy has a red one.
Depends if you run Nice Maroon Jubilees at 50mph through to Aysgarth from say, York? Lovely Jubbly!Ah. I won't say who it is, but do they own any suitable industrial engines they might use on the "private railway?" I doubt a mainline engine would be of much use.
Aysgarth Station to be sold by Wensleydale Railway
Why the WR persisted with the idea that it should be part of the public transport system for so long is a mystery to me. The public didn't use it sixty years ago - before mass car ownership - which is why it closed in the first place. Even the bus services in the upper dale survive only because of volunteer drivers. If the WR had concentrated sooner on being a shorter heritage steam railway at the west end of the present line, where the tourist money is, perhaps they wouldn't have got into this mess.
The bus services survive with volunteer drivers not because people don't want to use them, but because the Tories took away the subsidies. If subsidised properly public transport will work, only major areas of population have public transport that can cover its own costs. That is basic economics.