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

Carriage Stable completion is latest milestone for Yorkshire's Magnificent Journey Appeal

North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) has announced the completion of its £4 million carriage stable, one of the key projects in its £10 million Yorkshire’s Magnificent Journey (YMJ) Appeal.

The five track single-storey carriage shed, featuring a cantilevered roof, will accommodate up to 40 of the railway’s heritage carriages, and for the first time enable servicing and cleaning tasks to be completed undercover.


The new facility at Pickering forms part of a larger scheme to transform the railway and secure its future as part of the Yorkshire’s Magnificent Journey (YMJ) Appeal.

The YMJ Appeal, designed to transform the railway and secure its future, is funded by grants from the European Union, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Department of Environment Farming and Rural Affairs, the Local Enterprise Partnership and by donations from the charity’s members and supporters.

The carriage stable is just one of six projects, which also includes the new education coach at Goathland, aimed at helping to deliver one of the charity’s key objectives, to improve interpretation and education facilities on the railway.

The coach, which has recently returned from a full refurbishment, will bring to life the story of the railway through the people that worked it. An immersive social history experience is currently being developed, and will include material from the recent oral history project where people donated their memories. The education coach is due to be finished and be operational by April 2022.

Lineside conservation is another important YMJ project; NYMR Lineside Conservation Officer, Kerry Fieldhouse and her team have completed a full habitat survey along the 18 miles of track. All special or scientifically significant flora and habitats have been mapped and will form part of the ongoing conservation management plan. The next stage is a survey of animal species, including bats, butterflies, reptiles and turtle doves.

In keeping with the charity’s educational objectives, the newly-published Visitors’ Guide and Children’s Activity Guide will help raise awareness of the landscape around the railway and the wildlife it sustains.

YMJ is also funding heritage conservation work, to the boundary fences and a full review of the lineside huts and fogmen’s huts to identify opportunities for upgrading, preservation and conservation.

The Yorkshire’s Magnificent Journey funding has enabled the NYMR to completely redevelop the old school at Stape with a new role as ‘The Outstation’, the railway’s new Volunteer Development Hub and outreach centre. It provides a 20-berth, fully-equipped facility enabling the NYMR to offer unparalleled levels of engagement and experiences to new and non-traditional audiences. It’s intended to give a more diverse range of people and wider communities the opportunity to experience the pleasure and benefits of volunteering on a heritage railway.

Other YMJ projects in progress include the conversion of four carriages to provide ‘fuss-free’, easier access, with tailored seating for wheelchair users and accessible toilets on every train.

In February 2022, the YMJ funding will also enable the renewal and reconstruction of Bridges 24 and 25 at Goathland Station - crucial to the railway’s ongoing operation.

John Bailey, NYMR Trust Chairman, commented: “Fifty years ago our founders had the vision and determination to re-open the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Today we face challenges of a similar magnitude. We share their vision and determination, manifest through these projects that make up Yorkshire’s Magnificent Journey. They mean that 50 years hence, people will still be learning from and enjoying the experience of steam across the Moors.”

Find out more about the project visit www.nymr.co.uk/YMJ

About The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Using money raised by the National Lottery, we Inspire, lead and resource the UK’s heritage to create positive and lasting change for people and communities, now and in the future. www.heritagefund.org.uk.

Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLotteryHeritageFund

Images: Charlotte Graham & Kieran Murray