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 Yorkshire's Magnificent Journey 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. Apprentices are the heritage workforce of the future. It is essential that we pass on our specialist skills and knowledge to ensure the railway can be run for many generations ahead. Apprentices leave us with a wide range of qualifications and practical skills and many have since secured permanent paid work with us. Our Countryside Worker Apprenticeships are delivered in partnership with the North York Moors National Park Authority. Thanks to funding from the National Lottery Fund for the Yorkshire's Magnificent Journey project we've provided training for 6 Mechanical Engineering Apprenticeships and 12 Countryside Worker Apprenticeships. Read more about our apprenticeships here. Manage Cookie Preferences