Yorkshire's Magnificent Journey

YORKSHIRE'S MAGNIFICENT JOURNEY
Delivering our £10 million future vision

Yorkshire's Magnificent Journey is our £10 million project to ensure that future generations can continue to enjoy our 180 year old railway for decades to come. Over the past 5 years we’ve been busy delivering 7 unique initiatives. The project concludes in 2024 and you can find out more below about what we’ve already achieved and what’s still to come.

Bridge Renewals

We’ve replaced three crucial bridges along our railway to ensure that we can keep the trains running well into the future. The new bridges have replaced ones that were over 150 years old and starting to show their age. Find Out More

Fuss Free Access

We’ve made improvements to help ensure that our site is as accessible as possible for all to enjoy and feel included. This includes new specially adapted accessible carriages, enhanced signage and accessible maps. Find Out More

Carriage Stable

We have built a new £4 million carriage stable at Pickering to provide better care for our historic carriages. The new facility provides covered storage for up to 40 carriages and is making our work to care for and maintain the collection much easier. Find Out More

Goathland Learning & Interpretation

We are busy developing our learning programmes and have launched a fresh new programme of activities to engage young people with the railway. We have transformed the former pigeon van at Goathland into a new learning coach and have launched a new app. Find Out More

Volunteer Development

We have invested in volunteering including creating new volunteer opportunities across our departments and providing training and support to help volunteer development. We have also created the Outstation at Stape - a residential centre providing high quality volunteer accommodation. Find Out More

Apprentices

Our new apprenticeship scheme is helping young people gain the skills they need for a future in heritage railways. Our apprentices are working alongside our staff in engineering and lineside conservation. Find Out More

Lineside Conservation

Our lineside conservation project is helping to care for the land either side of our railway tracks. Our conservation work includes habitat surveys, practical conservation tasks and the creation of educational resources to help our visitors understand more about wildlife and conservation. Find Out More

When it comes to fundraising, the NYMR, and more importantly its friends and supporters, have got a proven track record of success. From emergency appeals to repair carriage vandalism damage to over £2million for the second platform at Whitby, the railway has accomplished great things over the past 50 years.

The income we generate from passengers and retail allows us to run the trains day-to- day and keep them maintained. However larger projects such as locomotive overhauls and investment in renewals or capital projects require additional sources of funding, which is often where you come in. We have also been very successful over the years in obtaining grant aid from a variety of bodies, with the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) being particularly supportive in the past, as they have with Yorkshire’s Magnificent Journey.

The HLF knows that we can deliver, and understands that our record of continual reinvestment in track, bridges and rolling stock is impressive. But we all know that it can never be enough from our own resources, and that bridges and improved carriage care facilities produce a ‘blip’ in the capital programme that we cannot meet without help.

You only have to look at a list of our most recent accomplishments to see what the NYMR family is capable of.These are just some of the projects that the NYMR has successfully delivered in recent years:

  • 2010: Replaced Bridge 30 (£1M) thanks to the Bridges and Wheels appeal and North Yorkshire County Council
  • 2012: Put the roof back on Pickering Station, together with the Learning Centre and archive (£1.2M) thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund and donations
  • 2013: Replaced Bridge 7 at Pickering Station (£0.35M) from operating surpluses
  • 2014: Loco 44806 (and earlier 75029) acquired thanks to a private benefactor
  • 2014: Opened a second platform at Whitby (£2.3M) thanks to the Coastal Communities Fund, Network Rail and private donations
  • 2016:Acquired 5 Bridge St, Pickering, thanks to more than 300 donors
  • 2016: Four miles of track renewed over previous three years thanks to operating surpluses, private donations and LEP grant
  • 2017: Repton returned to service following overhaul
  • 2017: Commenced restoration of Pullman Car Garnet thanks to Dept of Transport grant and many private donations (£140K)
  • 2020: Completed the replacement of Bridge 27 at Goathland Station as part of our Yorkshire's Magnificent Journey project.
  • 2021: Completed the build of a new carriage stable at Pickering to help protect our historic carriages from the elements and also new visitor accommodation at Stape. These were both part of our Yorkshire's Magnificent Journey project.

Our proud record shows that, with your help, we are well placed to rise to the challenge of sustaining our future. 

 


Your donation makes a vital difference to help our railway survive for future generations.

 

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