Last month the North Yorkshire Moors Railway agreed a contract with Network Rail and was awarded a passenger licence by the Office of Rail Regulation , enabling regular steam services between Pickering and Whitby for the first time since the line was axed in the Beeching cuts (link below.)
http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=1084&ArticleID=2043435NYMR brought 18 miles of track , between Pickering and Grosmont, back into use in 1973. Now , in what is thought to be a first for a heritage railway , trains will run on track owned by Network Rail when services use a stretch between Grosmont and Whitby , completing the route to the coast.
A sign of things to come?
As I said, give them over to enthusiasts with a minimum service requirement in their contracts and let them run steam in summer and keep it going with restored diesels or legacy DMUs all the rest of the time. I'll grant you it may be questionable whether enthusiasts would have the business wherewithal but you can bet they'd bust a gut trying. Also, enthusiasts from all over the country would be flocking down there to travel on them!
You may be interested in an e-mail that I received dated 01/03/2006 (final part removed to protect source) :
Dear Lee
Thanks for responding to my e-mail regarding the possible closure of branch lines in Cornwall.
As you know, there are no proposed closures at present. I believe what your Group should be doing is to canvass the Government to change the ridiculous way restrictions which were set for all the three companies bidding for the greater Western franchise. I understand the situation, FGW were prepared to run, for example, more than 8 trains per day as specified by the DfT on the Looe branch but were prevented from doing so because their bid "would not have been compliant".
You will know that there are in fact planned to be a number of improvements to main line services including more trains calling at Par and Lostwithiel. The main failures of the new timetable from December 2006 are the large reduction in the number of trains serving Ivybridge, Saltash, St Germans and the Looe and Newquay line services.
The number of passengers travelling on the Liskeard - Looe is falling mainly, I believe, because of the good adjacent bus service operated by Western Greyhound. I would suggest that the only way the Looe branch can survive is by making it into a heritage type of operation whilst at the same time providing a community rail service.
The Par to Newquay branch line would also make an excellent heritage line and we are pleased to investigate the possibility of being involved in both the Looe and Newquay lines whilst bearing in mind we cannot get into a loss making situation.
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