North Yorkshire Moors Railway halt steam train use after four fires break out in same night

It follows four fires which happened on the same night, Thursday August 11, and were all caused by a spark from a steam train.

North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) said in a statement: “We apologise to those impacted and have today made the decision to totally remove steam from our timetable until further notice.

"A decision was made following the recent rain to try and run a limited steam service to meet the wants of our customers whilst mitigating the risk by employing a third-party fire service company to patrol the most vulnerable areas of our lineside.

“The heritage railway is doing everything it can to fully cooperate with the emergency services, taking every precaution to ensure the safety of both staff and passengers, which is always our priority.”

At 6pm, on Thursday August 11, Whitby crews responded to a call of a lineside fire in Esk Valley, Grosmont.It had been put out by local residents before the Fire Service arrived, and the crew dampened down the area.

Shortly afterwards at 6.09pm, crews responded to a call of another lineside fire this time in Beck Hole, Goathland.

This fire was also started by the spark from a steam train and a specialist appliance named an Argocat was used to assist crews putting the fire out.

Just after this at 6.20pm, Lythe crews responded to a fire in Moorgates, Goathland.

This fire was also lineside and measured 35 metres by two metres.Locals had put the fire out before crews arrived, and firefighters dampened down the area.

At 8.33pm, Lythe crews were called out again to a fire in lineside scrubland in Goathland.

The fire measured 15 metres by five metres and crews used a hose reel jet to put this fire out.

Earlier this week, Whitby and Lythe crews were called to lineside fires in Sleights, Whitby and Goathland.

In May, NYMR temporarily suspended their services after a fire broke out near Goathland.The ban was due to ‘timber-dry’ conditions.