It is one the country’s most iconic heritage railways taking passengers on a stunning 18-mile trip through the North York Moors National Park.
However, like every heritage railway throughout Britain, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway is facing a battle never faced before, and one which potentially threatens the very existence of the railway.
The coronavirus crisis has left services cancelled and stations closed, with North Yorkshire Moors again potentially losing over £1 million over the upcoming weeks.
Chris Price is General Manager and has spoken to railbusinessdaily.com about the challenges being faced.
“The one feeling I have is helplessness as nobody is in control of this,” he said.
“It is hard to make cash flow forecasts and things like that when the uncertainty is so huge.
“But more importantly than that, we are no longer preserving a railway, I’m now preserving livelihoods. If you don’t have the livelihoods then you don’t have the railways.
“We have some wonderful volunteers supporting us, but there’s synergy between the volunteers and staff – one exists because of the other.
“So not only are we concerned about our staff, but we are also concerned about the health and welfare of our volunteers.”
What can be done to reduce costs?
The day to day operation is carried out by volunteers with railway operations and business experience. This includes a core team of paid staff together with approximately 120 full time and 50 seasonal staff.
He said: “We’ve furloughed all but a hand full of staff, apart from security. That has brought our cash flow levels down significantly.
“It is still a challenge as we are still quite a heavy cost-based organisation. Looking after any kind of railway infrastructure if expensive and it doesn’t just stop there.
“Even if we get some sort of rail operating in July, we are still looking at well over a million-pound hole in our finances for the year – which on a turnover of £7.5 million is quite a hole.
“Not just for the railways, this will be the toughest situation most people have been through. I don’t think you can plan for anything like this. You can try and plan financially, but it is very difficult because the cost base is so high.
“We do keep a cash reserve, but that will not be enough and will be at zero by the end of all this and we are then in a rebuilding process.
“It knocks you back when you are looking at capital investment in the future. It’s not just the immediate cash flow, but also the long-term effect for our ability to inwardly invest.”
Support available
Earlier this month the government announced £750 million funding for frontline charities, which although welcomed, isn’t going to be anywhere enough.
In a bid to try and reduce costs, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway has made the difficult decision to furlough many of its staff, but with the expenses of sustaining the railway, along with the lack of income, what other support could be available?
Unfortunately, one area that can’t be turned to is insurance, with the North Yorkshire Moors Railway unable to claim insurance compensation for business interruption.
Chris said: “The government funding is undoubtedly welcomed, but sadly it’s not enough. At the end of March, the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) predicted that charity sector would lose £3.7 billion of income over the proceeding 12 weeks.
“As far as the heritage rail industry is concerned, we’re not eligible for any of the funding mentioned by Rishi Sunak.
“Furloughing is one initiative. Banks seem very unsure with the Government guarantee-backed borrowing scheme. It sounded great, but it isn’t moving as fast as we’d like.
“But ultimately this is going to have to come from borrowing and of course we are going to pay that back over several years I think.
“I am looking for more support from the Government, but I think every sector is.”
Crisis fund
Despite the challenging times, Chris said he has taken some comfort from the support with the response they had received to a crisis fund, asking for donations.
It is hoped in the coming weeks this could hit six figures, something that has left Chris overwhelmed.
He said: “It is always difficult to go for crisis appeals when you are in a situation like this where everybody is worried about their own personal circumstances, but the response has been spectacular.
“My other role is vice chair for the Heritage Railway Association so I’m involved in the whole sector. You look across the whole sector and you are looking at nearly half a billion pounds of value to the UK economy through tourism and that is now all stationary and that is a big impact.
“But one thing which definitely comes through is the love for heritage railways in Britain as a whole – which is very, very high.
“We are a nation of railways lovers, we always have been, and that has come to the fore. The response is not just at North Yorkshire Moors, but what I’m hearing across the sector is quite spectacular.
“People definitely want the heritage railways to be there when all this is over and done with and that support will be vital to get through this.”
Visit https://www.nymr.co.uk/appeal/nymr-crisis-fund for more details.
Photo credit: Milosz Maslanka / Shutterstock.com
