NYMR tops £7million in upgrade bid

Work to upgrade the railway is expected to start in the new year thanks to a £4.4m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and funding from several other organisations including the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership which has given £500,000.

Bryan Orange, the railway’s lineside chief, said that work on the first of three historic bridges at the railway in the Goathland area will start early in the new year.

He told parish councillors at the North York Moors National Park southern area forum at Sinnington that the bridges needed either repairing or replacing because without the work the railway could not operate.

Another part of the railway’s Yorkshire’s Magnificent Journey initiative will be the building of a carriage care facility to enable between 30 and 40 carriages to be cared for and restored instead of having to be housed outdoors.

Mr Orange said: “We have great strengths but we need help to deliver our aims for the railway.”

He added that the railway, which carries some 350,000 passengers a year on its 18 mile route, now had a massive 1,000 volunteers, a thriving 60 strong group of junior volunteers and a strong team of apprentices.

The current ambitious investment programme is due for completion by 2024.

The railway is currently mounting a campaign through the Heritage Railways Association to protect it from the Government’s plan to restrict domestic coal burning as part of its Clean Air Strategy.