North Yorkshire Moors Railway

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) is a

As of 2020[update], the railway runs for 24 miles (39 km). It is owned and operated by a charitable trust, with 100 staff who work full time, 50 seasonal staff, and over 550 volunteers. The complement includes 30 engineers. As of 2020, the "NYMR is the UK’s most popular heritage railway" according to a news report.^[1][2]

Overview

The NYMR carries more passengers than any other heritage railway in the UK and may be the busiest steam heritage line in the world, carrying 355,000 passengers in 2010.

Some heritage rail operations continue along the Network Rail tracks to

The NYMR is owned by the North York Moors Historical Railway Trust Ltd, a charitable trust and accredited museum, and is operated by its wholly owned subsidiary North Yorkshire Moors Railway Enterprises plc. It is mostly operated and staffed by volunteers.^[10]

During most years, the trains run daily from the beginning of April to the end of October, and on weekends and selected holidays during the winter, with no service from 24 to 27 December. Services are mostly steam-hauled; however, heritage diesel power is sometimes used. At the height of the running timetable, trains depart hourly from each station. As well as the normal passenger running, there are dining services on some evenings and weekends. The extension of steam operated services to the seaside town of Whitby has proved popular.^[11][12]

History

v t e North Yorkshire Moors Railway
Legend
Whitby, Redcar & Middlesbro' Union Rly to Sandsend Whitby Bog Hall Junction Larpool Viaduct Scarborough & Whitby Railway to Scarborough Londesborough Road Ruswarp Ruswarp Level Crossing Sleights Grosmont Esk Valley line to Middlesbrough Grosmont Level Crossing Grosmont Tunnel ( 144 yd 132 m ) Deviation Junction Beckhole (closed 1914) Beckhole Incline (closed 1865) Goathland Bank Top (closed 1865) Goathland Newton Dale Halt Levisham Level Crossing Levisham Farwarth New Bridge Level Crossing High Mill Level Crossing Pickering Bridge Street Level Crossing Mill Lane Level Crossing Gilling and Pickering line to Gilling Forge Valley Line to Seamer Y&NMR Pickering Branch to Rillington

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway was first opened in 1836 as the

In its first year of operation, the railway carried 10,000 tonnes (11,000 tons) of stone from Grosmont to Whitby, as well as 6,000 passengers, who paid a fare of 1 shilling to sit on the roof of a coach, or 1 shilling and 3 pence to sit inside.^[15] It took two and a half hours to travel from Whitby to Pickering.^[16]

In 1845, the railway was acquired by the

In 1967, the NYMR Preservation Society was formed, and negotiations began for the purchase of the line. After running various open weekends and steam galas during the early 1970s (by permission of

The preserved line is now a tourist attraction and has been awarded several tourist industry and heritage accolades.[27]^[28][29][30]

In 2017, the NYMR received one half of a planned £9.2 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.^[31] The balance was paid in May 2019 and was to be used towards the renewal of iron bridges at Goathland railway station and a new carriage shed at Pickering.^[32] A report in February 2021 said that the railway had received a £1.9 million grant from the government's Culture Recovery Fund.^[33]

The restrictions and lockdowns necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and into 2021, required the railway to cease operations for months. A crisis appeal was successful in raising over £400,000 in donations by September; that had increased to £440,000 by January 2021.^[1] The 2020 season was postponed by four months and events were cancelled due to the pandemic. The railway has received £295,000 in support funding from the Culture Recovery Fund.^[34]

A new carriage stabling facility was opened in September 2021, with space for 40 carriages.^[35]

On 12 June 2023, King Charles III arrived at the Pickering station on the British Royal Train, pulled by the LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman locomotive, "after a trip through the countryside on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway", according to a news report. ^[36] The visit marked the 100th anniversary of the locomotive and the 50th anniversary of the current version of the railway being operated by volunteers. The driver of the Flying Scotsman made this comment at the time: "He's a regular because he has been here before when he opened the station in 2000".^[37]

Stations

• British Railways in 1952 due to corrosion. A replacement roof was fitted to the station between January and April 2011, as part of the NYMR's Train of Thought project.^[39] Other work includes a learning centre and a visitor centre behind the down platform. Originally, the line continued south of Pickering to join the Malton to Scarborough Line at Rillington Junction but this track has since been lifted with the last trip to Malton running on 1 July 1966, the day the freight services were withdrawn.^[8]
• Farwath railway station (or Farworth)[40] was a small railway halt located between Pickering and Levisham; however, the halt was subsequently closed and demolished. Railway-built cottages still exist in this location. There is some doubt as to whether or not there were actually any station buildings here. There was a signal box, which closed when the line was singled between Levisham and Pickering in the First World War. Additionally, there was a public delivery siding, but mapping from 1913 does not list Farworth as being a station, though it does show a gravel siding.^{[41][42][43][44]}
• NER country station, c. 1912. The station has a traditional camping coach, which is let for holidays. Since 2007, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway's artist in residence, Christopher Ware, has used a studio at the station.^[46][47]
• Newton Dale Halt is a remote walkers' request stop in Cropton Forest. There are forest walks of varying lengths.^[48][49]

• Heartbeat and the first of the Harry Potter films (see below). The station has a newly refurbished tea room which is inside a goods warehouse. The station also has a traditional camping coach
  , which is let for holidays.
• Esk Valley Line, where passengers may change trains to travel to the coast at Whitby, or inland to Middlesbrough
  and the rest of the national network. Thus, platform one of the station is served by Northern Rail services, whilst platforms two, three and four are used by the NYMR.
• Whitby is, on many operating days, the railway's northern terminus. All but two of the various timetables see steam trains operating through from Pickering, including daily throughout July and August except on Sundays. When NYMR trains terminate at Grosmont rather than Whitby at off-peak times, connecting trains with Northern Rail are usually available at Grosmont, allowing passengers to begin their journey at Whitby and board a steam-hauled train at Grosmont through to Goathland or Pickering. Facilities available at Whitby station include ticket office and shop. National Rail tickets and Railcards are also available to purchase. In August 2014 a second platform was opened at the station to cater for the NYMR's trains.^[50]

Locomotives

Future and possibility of expansion

The possibility of reopening the missing 8-mile (13 km) section between Malton via Rillington Junction (on the York – Malton – Scarborough Line) and Pickering has often been discussed. It is included in a list of rail lines, where campaigns exist for reopening, issued by the Campaign for Better Transport.^[51][52]

This might allow the running of steam services from York to Whitby again. To achieve this would require considerable engineering work, as the former trackbed has been built upon with houses and a supermarket.^[53]

Reinstating this missing rail link was adopted as a policy objective by the

Hopes for this have been dampened as of October 2014 with reports that the managing director of the NYMR stating that they did not support any trains running along their tracks.[55]^[56]

Bridge and wheels appeal

In March 2009, the railway announced that bridge 30 over the Eller Beck at Darnholme near Goathland needed to be repaired/replaced over the winter of 2009/2010, otherwise the railway would be forced to close. The railway therefore launched an appeal to raise £1 million to cover the costs of the bridge work with any excess raised going towards the restoration of locomotive 80135. £610,000 was raised in time,^[57] and the bridge was replaced over the winter-Christmas/new year period of 2009/2010, with the first trains crossing over the new bridge in March 2010. The bridge was formally opened by Pete Waterman on 27 March 2010.^[58]

Yorkshire's 'magnificent journey' appeal

During 2017, the NYMR announced it was applying to the Heritage Lottery Fund, as part of a new appeal to keep the whole preserved railway running for the next 50 years. The bid attracted £4.4 million in HLF funding and the appeal also donations from other funding streams such as the Rural Payments Agency, which donated £1.97 million.^[59]

The aim of this appeal includes a series of individual projects such as,

1. The renewal and repair of a total of three bridges around Goathland.
2. Provide fuss free access for accommodation aboard every passenger train.
3. The construction of a carriage shed (accommodating up to 40 carriages) at Pickering.
4. A dedicated education carriage at Goathland.
5. The creation of a new volunteer hostel at Grosmont.
6. A volunteering development programme, recruiting new generations of volunteers in the foreseeable future.
7. Railway apprenticeship schemes, with offers of training in engineering.
8. A lineside conservation initiative, raising the awareness of conservation issues.^[60]

In early 2021, the project benefitted from £296,000 from the Culture Recovery Fund.^[61]

As of 11 January 2020, bridge 27 at Goathland was removed; work to replace it was underway in March 2020.^[62][63] Bridges 24 & 25 were scheduled for replacement in early 2022.^[61]

Special events

The NYMR runs several special events through the year, usually revolving around a particular theme.

• Steam galas are weekend events, sometimes extended to Friday and/or Monday. On these days, a full timetabled service is run alongside extra trains, such as local shuttle services and demonstration
  Gresley A4 Pacifics, and attracted thousands of visitors.^[64]

• North York Moors National Park adds to the charm of these events.^[65]

The production of Downton Abbey film used Pickering station on the railway in its opening scene; the train is shown travelling through several communities.^[75]

In April 2021, scenes for the film Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, were filmed on the railway, at Levisham.^[76] Filming for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny also took place on a section of the railway, in June 2021, in the village of Grosmont.^[77]

Accidents and incidents

• On 21 May 2012, a steam locomotive pushing carriages was accidentally started in the wrong direction at Grosmont and killed a volunteer guard, Bob Lund, who was uncoupling carriages.^[78]
• On 21 September 2021, Class 20 diesel locomotive 20189 collided with a rake of carriages at Grosmont. Five passengers were injured. A Rail Accident Investigation Branch investigation revealed that the NYMR could not prove that the traction inspector in charge of the locomotive at the time of the accident was qualified to drive that class of locomotive. Consequently, the Office of Rail and Road issued the NYMR with an improvement notice.^[79][80]

Awards

• 1990 Ian Allan Railway Heritage Awards, Commendation for the wooden waiting room and booking office, re-located from Sleights to the extended down platform at Grosmont.
• 1995 Visitor Attraction of the Year (Yorkshire and Humberside Tourist Board)
• 1999 National Railway Heritage Awards, Railway World category, Commendation for the renovation, almost amounting to rebuilding, of Levisham waiting and ladies room, including the provision of a completely new period interior with in-style ladies' toilets
• 2000 National Railway Heritage Awards, Ian Allan Publishing Award, for the renovation of the goods shed and the coal and lime cells at Goathland in 1999, including the conversion of the goods shed into a café using restored open wagons to provide seating.
• 2001 National Railway Heritage Awards, Westinghouse Signalling Award, for the new
  signal box at Grosmont
  built to an 1870s design.
• 2006 National Railway Heritage Award, for the provision of staff, public and disabled toilet facilities adjacent to Goathland goods shed in a converted goods van; thus providing these essential facilities in a manner that blended in with their surroundings.^[27]
• 2007 Best Visitor Attraction of 2007 (in the 50,000 visitors and over category), awarded by the Yorkshire Moors & Coast Tourism Partnership – a consortium of tourism expertise from across the districts of
  Scarborough. "What really impressed the judges was the consistently high standard of customer service which was in evidence when his members carried out ‘mystery shopping’ visits during the year".^[81]
• 2007 Large Railway of the Year, awarded by members of the
  Esk Valley route between Grosmont and Whitby, using volunteer crews. The judges also acknowledged the contribution (in excess of £15,000) made by the railway following the holding of a gala in support of the Severn Valley Railway following their devastating flood damage, especially as the NYMR also suffered from flooding but not to the same degree'.^[81]
• 2009 Best Visitor Attraction of 2009 (in the 50,000 visitors and over category), awarded by the Yorkshire Moors & Coast Tourism Partnership – a consortium of tourism expertise from across the districts of
  Eden Camp.^[82]
• 2010 Marketing Campaign of the Year awarded by Visit York.^[83]
• 2014 National Railway Heritage Awards, Best Small Project Award, for renovating the lamp room at Levisham station which burnt down in the 1960s.^[30]
• 2015 National Railway Heritage Awards, Siemens Signalling Award, Grosmont north end signalling.^[28]
• 2015 National Railway Heritage Awards, Modern Traction Award, awarded to the railway after keeping its diesel fleet active during a shortage of steam locomotives.^[84]

References

Sources

• Bairstow, Martin (2008). Railways Around Whitby; Volume One (2nd ed.). Farsley: Bairstow.
  ISBN 978-1-871944-34-1
  .
• Holland, Julian; Spaven, David (2015). Britain's Best Railways; Exploring the Country by Rail From Cornwall to The Highlands. Glasgow: The Times Books.
  ISBN 978-0-00-796596-0
  .
• Suggitt, Gordon (2007). Lost Railways of North & East Yorkshire. Newbury: Countryside Books.
  ISBN 978-1-85306-918-5
  .
• Tomlinson, William Weaver (1915). The North Eastern Railway, its rise and development. Newcastle-Upon-Tyne: A Reid & Co.
  OCLC 854595777
  – via archive.org.
• Vanns, Michael A. (2017). The North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Barnsley: Pen & Sword.
  ISBN 9781473892088
  .

Further reading

• Bellass, Eddie (February–March 1982). "North Yorkshire's D-Day".
  OCLC 49957965
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

• North Yorkshire Moors Railway website
• NYMR Diesels website
• P-Way including York Area Group of the NYMR