THE NORTH YORKSHIRE MOORS RAILWAY A HISTORY

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: february 2009 :: RMTnews 18 The Whitby and Pickering Railway was one of the earliest lines in Britain to be built. Originally horse-drawn, the line opened on May 26 1836 and was closed by Dr Beeching on March 8 1965. Due to the remoteness of the town of Whitby, the line to Middlesbrough was kept open which meant that the first seven miles to Grosmont were still on the network, but British Rail claimed that the Pickering section was losing £50,000 a year. Two years after closure it was decided that the line should re-open and formed the North Yorkshire Moors Railway Preservation Society. British Rail was keen to lift the line for re-use, due to it being double track with a quantity of checkrail on the tight curves. This spurred the society into action and early in 1968 the single line of the first seven miles from Grosmont to Summit were purchased for £35,000 with a further £7,500 for three stations and eleven line-side cottages. Special trains ran for volunteer use from 1970 by which time the local councils and planning committees were beginning to take notice. There were many advantages to providing public transport within such a scenic area and financial assistance enabled the society to purchase the line to Pickering. Now that the society had assets it became a Historical Railway Trust. NYMR is the first operating railway in Britain to achieve charitable status. After gaining permission to operate as a light railway the first train ran through to High Mill at Pickering in April 1973. The station at Pickering was under threat of supermarket development but by 1975 trains terminated there. There were virtually no structural facilities to operate the newly-formed railway. The signal-cabins were operational but the box controlling Pickering station by colour- THE NORTH YORKSHIRE MOORS RAILWAY A HISTORY Acting membership secretary of the newly-formed North Yorkshire Moors Railway branch Tam Naylor tells the story of one of Britain’s best-loved heritage steam lines FUEL: Southern Railway 825 under the Coaling stage at Gosmont.