Access all areas as moorland railway lets off holiday steam
THE SECRET life of a steam line from the engine shed to the repair shop will be laid bare to bank-holiday visitors to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway over the May Day weekend.
The heritage service, which has recently been the subject of a documentary series on Channel 5, will allow families access to areas that are normally reserved for volunteers and staff.
The programme of events includes tours of the archive departments and demonstrations of the railway turntable.
The line carries more than 350,000 passengers a year between Whitby and Pickering, and is currently undergoing a £9m development that will see the building of a “stable” to protect 40 carriages from the weather, and a workshop for the restoration of historic artefacts.
The railway launched an appeal last year to fund eight projects over the next five years, including the renewal and repair of worn-out iron bridges around Goathland. By January this year, more than £200,000 had been pledged.
The open weekend will extend to the carriage and wagon workshop at Pickering and the signal box at Goathland, which will allow tours.
The original draughtsman’s drawings for the line will also be on display.
The original Whitby to Pickering railway was opened 180 years ago, but was a victim of Dr Richard Beeching’s axe in 1965. It reopened as a steam-driven heritage line in 1973.
Paul Middleton, its head of traction and rolling stock, who appeared in the TV documentary, said: “Being at the railway for more than 20 years, it’s great to open up the engine sheds for people to get up close and personal with the lifeblood of rail history.”
The railway’s fleet of carriages has appeared in Downton Abbey,
Harry Potter and the Oscar-nominated film Phantom Thread.
More than 17,500 schoolchildren have visited since a learning centre was built at Pickering in 2011.