You can explore Yorkshire on some of Britain’s finest heritage railways.
Claire Webb - 8 June 2019
The fly-on-the-wall documentary series The Yorkshire Steam Railway: All Aboard has proved a big ratings hit for Channel 5, with more than 1.7 million watching the first series that followed the trials and tribulations of the staff and volunteers who run the North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR).
It’s one of more than 150 such heritage lines in the UK – staffed by more than 20,000 volunteers – and more are opening every year. “A steam train is a unique link to the past in that we can pretty much accurately re-create what it would have been like to travel on the railways pre-1965,” says Chris Price, general manager of the NYMR and one of the stars of the programme, which is currently into its second series. “It’s a chunk of nostalgia that you can immerse yourself in.”
The NYMR is one of the longest standardgauge preserved railways in Britain, and wends 24 miles from Pickering to Whitby, clattering down inclines and through the rolling, heathercarpeted hills of the North York Moors National Park. “I love the section around Goathland Station, where the moors open up and you get some beautiful views, and then you drop down into Grosmont,” says Price. “That’s one of the steepest gradients on a heritage line and a long, hard climb for our steam engines. Goathland has been immortalised as Hogsmeade in the Harry Potter films and a lot of tourists come just to see where Hagrid welcomed the new Hogwarts pupils in the first film.”
Opened in 1836 to transport stone to Whitby, the NYMR was one of the UK’s first passenger railways. It ground to a halt in 1965 after being declared uneconomic by Dr Richard Beeching, the chairman of the British Railways Board, but was reopened eight years later thanks to a tenacious group of like-minded enthusiasts. Today Price has more than 1,000 volunteers on his books.
Despite the fact that it carries over 300,000 passengers a year, it’s still an expensive battle for the NYMR to stay open, given its temperamental locomotives and ageing infrastructure. Last month the National Lottery awarded it a grant of £4.4 million, which will pay for the repair of its creaky iron bridges and a shed to protect the carriages from the elements and vandals. It will also allow for wheelchair friendly carriages. “We want to preserve the railway for future generations, and we also want to become more inclusive,” says Price. “In the 50s, they didn’t make allowances for disabled access, but we want to make the railway more accessible so that everybody can enjoy it.”
Price is looking forward to a hectic summer season, although he’s hoping the weather won’t be as scorching as last year, when he almost had to close because the locomotives were a fire risk. “In winter, the steam effects are greater because the weather is colder, and it’s more atmospheric. But my favourite time of the year is the summer, when the railway is at its busiest, the sun is shining and the skies are blue.”
The fly-on-the-wall documentary series The Yorkshire Steam Railway: All Aboard has proved a big ratings hit for Channel 5, with more than 1.7 million watching the first series that followed the trials and tribulations of the staff and volunteers who run the North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR).
It’s one of more than 150 such heritage lines in the UK – staffed by more than 20,000 volunteers – and more are opening every year. “A steam train is a unique link to the past in that we can pretty much accurately re-create what it would have been like to travel on the railways pre-1965,” says Chris Price, general manager of the NYMR and one of the stars of the programme, which is currently into its second series. “It’s a chunk of nostalgia that you can immerse yourself in.”
The NYMR is one of the longest standardgauge preserved railways in Britain, and wends 24 miles from Pickering to Whitby, clattering down inclines and through the rolling, heathercarpeted hills of the North York Moors National Park. “I love the section around Goathland Station, where the moors open up and you get some beautiful views, and then you drop down into Grosmont,” says Price. “That’s one of the steepest gradients on a heritage line and a long, hard climb for our steam engines. Goathland has been immortalised as Hogsmeade in the Harry Potter films and a lot of tourists come just to see where Hagrid welcomed the new Hogwarts pupils in the first film.”
Opened in 1836 to transport stone to Whitby, the NYMR was one of the UK’s first passenger railways. It ground to a halt in 1965 after being declared uneconomic by Dr Richard Beeching, the chairman of the British Railways Board, but was reopened eight years later thanks to a tenacious group of like-minded enthusiasts. Today Price has more than 1,000 volunteers on his books.
Despite the fact that it carries over 300,000 passengers a year, it’s still an expensive battle for the NYMR to stay open, given its temperamental locomotives and ageing infrastructure. Last month the National Lottery awarded it a grant of £4.4 million, which will pay for the repair of its creaky iron bridges and a shed to protect the carriages from the elements and vandals. It will also allow for wheelchair friendly carriages. “We want to preserve the railway for future generations, and we also want to become more inclusive,” says Price. “In the 50s, they didn’t make allowances for disabled access, but we want to make the railway more accessible so that everybody can enjoy it.”
Price is looking forward to a hectic summer season, although he’s hoping the weather won’t be as scorching as last year, when he almost had to close because the locomotives were a fire risk. “In winter, the steam effects are greater because the weather is colder, and it’s more atmospheric. But my favourite time of the year is the summer, when the railway is at its busiest, the sun is shining and the skies are blue.”