North Yorkshire Moors Railway Statement of Significance

This summarises the importance of our holdings in terms of historical, aesthetic, scientific, cultural and social values.  The use of “Statements of Significance” is a contemporary Cultural Heritage Management practice used to describe the value and meanings of places.  The concept of “significance” in Cultural Heritage Management evolved from the realisation that cultural material had more/different meanings than were obvious from their context.  In the UK we often fall into the trap of assuming that the value of places is self-evident based on being old or rare.  Statements of Significance encourage people to explain more clearly what is valuable.

Statement of Significance

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway is a preserved historic railway stretching for 18 miles through the heart of the North Yorkshire Moors National Park, from Pickering via Levisham, Newton Dale and Goathland to Grosmont, with a further 6 mile extension over Network Rail’s Esk Valley line to Whitby and occasionally Battersby.  It is the largest preserved heritage railway in the UK in terms of route mileage operated and passenger numbers.

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway is locally, regionally and nationally significant due to its historic, scientific, aesthetic, cultural and social values.

Historic Value

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway was first opened as the Whitby & Pickering Railway between the two towns in 1836 (the first section from Whitby to Grosmont, and later to Beck Hole, opened in 1835), to a plan by George Stephenson, and was originally built to convey horse drawn carriages.  It traversed the incredibly varied topography of the North Yorkshire Moors, and at Grosmont includes one of the earliest railway tunnels in the world.  A distinctive feature was a rope-worked incline used to haul trains up into the moors between Beck Hole and Goathland.

In 1845 the Whitby & Pickering Railway was acquired by the York and North Midland Railway Company under George Hudson, and was rebuilt to allow operation by steam locomotives, subsequently becoming, in turn, part of the North Eastern Railway (NER).  In 1865 the rope-worked incline was replaced by a 3.5 mile diversionary route with a new station opened at Goathland Mill (today’s Goathland).  Today the old incline is a public footpath as part of a railway heritage trail between Goathland and Grosmont. Upon the railway grouping of 1923, the line became part of the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) and then British Railways with nationalisation in 1948.

Before the arrival of the Railway, Whitby was isolated and more easily accessible from sea than land.  The Railway opened up the region to people, as well as facilitating the movement of goods, allowing limestone, sandstone and ironstone to be transported further afield.

The Railway traverses the central section of the former Whitby, Pickering and Malton line which was subsequently closed in 1965 as part of the Beeching cuts, although today North Yorkshire Moors Railway trains operate over the northern section through to Whitby.  The Railway reopened in 1973 as a preserved historic railway run largely by volunteers, but also aimed at providing a service to the local community (local village residents still get free travel on market days).  The Railway now owns and operates a number of steam locomotives, as well as heritage diesels, which are conserved and restored by highly skilled engineers in the Carriage and Wagon Department at Pickering and at the Motive Power Department at Grosmont.  Grosmont is also home to a number of other locomotives, owned by societies and individuals who maintain and operate them on the Railway, including some former North Eastern Railway designs and the LNER streamlined A4 express locomotive, Sir Nigel Gresley (which holds the post-war UK steam speed record and is named after its designer, one of the UK’s most famous locomotive engineers).  Additionally, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway possesses an exceptional archive and collection of artefacts spanning the history of the Railway, and is an accredited museum.

Scientific Value

In the process of conserving and restoring steam locomotives, heritage diesels, railways infrastructure, Permanent Way and signalling, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway preserves and passes on the specialist skills and knowledge of traditional railway practice.  The coming of the railways saw amazing engineering innovation transforming the way people and goods moved around, and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway was at the heart of these new developments as one of the earliest lines in the North of England.

Aesthetic Value

The stations of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway are restored to reflect different periods of the railway’s history.  Pickering station, by architect G. T. Andrews, is presented as it would have looked in 1937 during LNER days, Levisham as a 1912 NER country station, Goathland as a 1922 station in the final year of NER and Grosmont in the style of British Railways, North Eastern Region, in 1952.  The Railway’s historical atmosphere has ensured that it has made many appearances on film and television, and is a popular subject for artists and photographers.

The Railway travels through the beautiful and varied scenery of the North Yorkshire Moors National Park, which includes a number of SSSIs, the stunning geological formation of Newtondale and the nature reserve of Fen Bog.

Cultural Value

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway is a vast repository of skills, knowledge and enthusiasm associated with the railways.  A strong culture of steam and heritage diesel nostalgia pervades the Railway, and the restored stations evoke for the visitor a sense of stepping back in time and a chance to both take part in a moving image of our past.  The Railway both celebrates and commemorates the history of railways and its involvement in the life of the local community.

It is an outstanding representation of an historic railway, and provides an exceptional example of balancing conservation and authenticity concerns with continuing use of its sites and resources.

Social Value

The Railway runs popular themed events such as Railway at War, Steam and Diesel Galas and Santa Specials, and carries the largest number of passengers of the UK’s preserved railways.   It is estimated that the Railway generates an estimated £30 million annually to the region’s tourist economy, and has been the recipient of many awards.  Additionally, it is one of the largest employers in the area, and plays a positive role in keeping several hundred cars off the National Park roads in the height of the summer holiday season.