Yorkshire's Magnificent JourneyYORKSHIRE'S MAGNIFICENT JOURNEYWe've delivered our £10 million future vision Yorkshire's Magnificent Journey was 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 delivered 7 big initiatives - all focused on keeping us moving for the next 50 years. The project concluded in July 2024 and you can find out more below about each of the unique projects and what we’ve achieved. First we'd like to say a huge thank you to the many organisations and individuals who helped bring the vision to reality, including all of you who gave donations and our key funders, the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Rural Development Fund. We would also like to thank our partners, the North York Moors National Park Authority, who have worked with us on our Countryside Worker Apprenticeships programme and a wealth of conservation initiatives. 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 launched Fuss Free Access improvements to make our railway 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 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 We launched a new apprenticeship scheme to help young people gain the skills they need for a future in heritage railways. Apprentices work 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 Sign Up for Fundraising News YMJ Home News Our Work News New Bridge Contractor The North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) has named VolkerLaser as the contractor to carry out the reconstruction work on Bridges 24 and 25 at Goathland, between January and March 2022. The £1.26 million reconstruction work is only one part of the NYMR’s ‘Yorkshire’s Magnificent Journey’ project, a £10 million project to ensure future generations can enjoy the 180-year-old railway. It has been made possible thanks to generous funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the European Union, NYMR’s Local Enterprise Partnership and kind donations from many supporters. This project is split into seven projects dedicated to preserving the railway for future generations. Other key YMJ projects include the recently-opened £4 million Carriage Stable at Pickering, and The Outstation, its Volunteer Development Hub at Stape. Recently-opened Carriage Stable. Image: Charlotte Graham The appointment of VolkerLaser to replace the wrought iron and steel bridges, which cross Eller Beck at Goathland, follows the collapse earlier this year of engineering firm, Cleveland Bridge, which was originally scheduled to carry out the work. Tim Bruce, Director of Civil Engineering at NYMR, commented: “Our bridges are absolutely crucial for an operating railway and ensuring that future generations will be able to enjoy this historic route. Some of our bridges are over 150 years old and, despite regular maintenance work to care for them and prolong their lives, the metalwork is starting to show its age. The renewal of bridges 24 and 25 is essential to ensure that we can run passenger trains hauled by heavy steam engines over them for many years to come. Despite some delays due to COVID and Cleveland Bridge going into liquidation this Summer, we are delighted that VolkerLaser is stepping in to deliver the project in line with our original timescales." Bridge 25 crosses Eller Beck at Goathland Jim Mawson, Operations Director for Steel at VolkerLaser, said: “It is great to have been awarded this contract, and to work for NYMR in delivering the final piece of its “Yorkshire’s Magnificent Journey” project. As the new contractor responsible for delivering the project, following the collapse of the previous principal contractor, and after a 12 month delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our goal is to help our client secure the scheduled delivery of these two bridges. VolkerLaser will be working tirelessly with the client’s team to deliver a successful outcome.” The NYMR needs a further £300,000 to fund the work on Bridges 24 and 25, finally completing its YMJ projects. To donate, please go to nymr.co.uk/ymj Main Image: Charlotte Graham Manage Cookie Preferences