As I was the North Yorkshire Moors Railway’s (NYMR) CEO until the end of 2023 I suppose I am the one who has supposedly been labelled a mis-manager by your recent article.

Not only is this wholly untrue, but also put my current employment at risk when it was read by my current employer.

As I am under probation in my new role this has caused more than a little uneasiness in my household.

For this reason I am hoping you will give my rebuff to your article the same level of diligence.

The Auditors did add a material uncertainty to our accounts in the middle of the year, this is correct.

However, the circumstances that brought that about were not by mismanagement, but by the rate of cost increases in a short space of time.

We saw a coal bill increase from £300,000 a year to closer to £700,000 and electricity go from just under £200k to over £400k.

These also bought about an increase to raw materials such as steel for rails and transport costs. When we add in the bills for other costs we are looking at cost increases close to £1m.

Now consider a railway that used to routinely make £500k surplus pre-Covid and you can see a £500k discrepancy that has to be dealt with.

The NYMR has routinely invested £1m back into its infrastructure each year, (why it closes in the off season) and has had to make this £500k discrepancy up through fundraising via its charity activities.

However, this £500k now becomes a £1m discrepancy and with an organisation the size of the NYMR this is not going to be turned around in one year.

Whilst it is true that the railway did show an operating surplus of £2.4m during Covid, this is mainly because we covered costs and did not invest too much in the infrastructure due to the fact we didn’t run very many trains in the lockdown year. Therefore an operating surplus is fine but cash generation was not to the same level.

When any business drops into loss you look to your cash reserves to carry you through until such time as you can return to profit, and this is exactly what has happened at the railway. It’s quite normal and we are certainly not alone in this.

In the case of the NYNR this presents a material uncertainly and the auditors were right to highlight it. However, any turnaround situation brings uncertainty and management should be judged how they navigate this, not on a snapshot view of accounts that are a moment in time.

These plans have obviously been painful and costs have been cut, but the NYMR has not run out of cash and opened as normal today.

It has also managed to continue its investment in the infrastructure over the winter.

This is first class management and should be congratulated by the businesses in Pickering who rely on the tourist trade it brings.

Chris Price, Ex-CEO, NYMR