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

A £2.5 million appeal has been launched to secure the future of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) and you can now pledge your support online.

Earlier this year, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) awarded NYMR £4.6M as part of the £9.2M Sustainability Project, NYMR’s Yorkshire’s Magnificent Journey Appeal.  To deliver the investment programme, the NYMR must raise approx. £2.5M from members, passengers and the public over the next five years.

The award-winning visitor attraction steams across the North York Moors bringing delight to more than 350,000 passengers every year. Owned and operated by an independent charitable trust with no public funding, day to day operation of the railway is carried out by volunteers who work steadily to improve the quality of the infrastructure, the railway vehicles and the experience of visitors.

North Yorkshire Moors Railway Trust Chairman, John Bailey, said "Fifty years ago our founders had the vision and determination to re-open the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Today we face a challenge of similar scale. We are extremely grateful for the support from the National Lottery. With its backing, we can plan confidently both the implementation of essential projects and our appeal for the balance of funds required. This should ensure that, fifty years hence, people will still be learning from and enjoying the experience of steam across the Moors.”

The aim of Yorkshire’s Magnificent Journey is to boost investment in the infrastructure and the activities of the railway to help ensure that it can continue to operate successfully for the next fifty years.

Specific elements will:

  • Renew and repair the worn-out iron bridges around Goathland, removing a threat to the NYMR’s continued operation (£2.67M).
  • Provide a Fuss-free access carriage in every train, with ramps, loos and seating to easily accommodate the needs of all passengers, whatever their mobility (£770k).
  • Construct a covered stable for up to 40 carriages at Pickering, reducing decay and easing maintenance of the irreplaceable carriage fleet (£4.16M).
  • Better serve school groups and families with a dedicated education carriage at Goathland, building on success at Pickering and providing interpretation so visitors get more from their visit to a perfect country station (£330k).
  • Create a new volunteer hostel at Grosmont, providing decent facilities to encourage new volunteers including families and young people (£450k).
  • Develop initiatives to recruit new generations of volunteers to the line (£170k).
  • Build a railway apprenticeship programme (£470k).
  • Place a new emphasis on the care and management of the 18 miles of lineside (£170k). 

Keeping 18 miles of railway with more than 30 bridges in top condition through the difficult countryside of the North York Moors is a continuing challenge for the NYMR Trustees. The 180-year old railway already invests around £1 million annually but there’s only so much the fare box can generate and much more is needed for the railway bridges and its 50-100 year old vehicles to remain viable.

Your support and generosity can help us achieve our goal, Yorkshire's Magnificent Journey!

 

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