Every Last NYMR Station

Stuart • 9 October 2022

Gallery showing my photos from Every Last Station on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway is a now heritage railway that runs between Pickering, Grosmont and selected services continuing through to Whitby. The heritage line has always been high on the to do list due to my growing up seeing the line on Heartbeat, The Royal and Goathland station featuring in the Harry Potter movies.

A little history...

The line first opened in 1836 when it was known as the Whitby & Pickering Railways. It wasn't until 1845 though until the first permanent stations we're built along with other structures along the line. These remain in situ today! This work was carried out by the York and North Midland Railway after they acquired the line. They were also responsible for the opening of the line south of Pickering which directly connected the line to York and beyond!

In March 1965 the line through Pickering to Whitby fell victim to the infamous Beaching Axe. The last passenger train ran on 6th March 1965. Freight however lasted just about over a year until July 1966. Thankfully though, for all of us, this was not the end for the line... In many ways, it was only the beginning!

In 1973, after the purchase of the line from British Railways and the permissions to operate, the line saw the return of passenger services began. These ran under the name known today, The North Yorkshire Moors Railway. To start with these services only ran between Pickering and Grosmont due to the NYMR not been a licenced company to operate on Network Rail Lines. This changed in 2007 when services we're able to run the full length from Pickering to Whitby. Daily services between Pickering & Whitby increased in 2014 when Platform 2 at Whitby was reopened.

The Stations...

Pickering:

We start the journey at Pickering which is now the terminus station on the line. The station has been restored to its 1937 state thanks to some help from the Heritage Lottery fund. The station houses a ticket office and a fantastic little tearoom that does some great sandwiches and cakes (confirmed by me!) In early 2011 the NYMR fitted a replacement roof to the station. This replaced the roof that British Rail removed in 1952 due to corrosion.

Levisham:

A small country station that is between Newton-on-Rawcliffe and the village the station is named after, Levisham. A now fully renovated lovely station that serves some lovely walking locations. Infact, I did the walk with Charlie (A NYMR Volunteer) from Levisham to the next station down the line...

Newton Dale Halt:

This is a lovely little rural halt that is in the middle of the woods. Charlie and I had a nice walk along the access track through Cropton Forest to the station. The station has benches and picnic tables to sit back and relax at while awaiting your train. Should it be raining there is also a decent sized shelter. Newton Dale Halt is the only request stop on the line. Returning here is on my list of things to do next year... I mean who doesn't want to request a steam train to stop?!?! Sadly, the day I visited was during a heatwave and there was a steam ban in place across the country.

Goathland:

Or maybe you might know it as Aidensfield or Hogsmeade? Yes, this station is the station where they filmed Heartbeat, Harry Potter, All Creatures Great & Small amongst others. A lovely station that has great looking Tea Room which is located in a recently refurbished goods carriage. The station is in a great location allowing easy access to the lovely village where you could go for a pint at the Aidensfield Arms (actually called The Goathland) or if you would rather there is several walks up on to the moors where you could walk to the next station along the line (on my list of things to do!)

Grosmont:

This is where the North Yorkshire Moors Railway joins to the Esk Valley line which is part of the national rail network with services operated by Northern. The station is a rather lovely station with a deceiving looking manual level crossing (It's actually automatic controlled by the signal box). The village appears to be lovely and is somewhere I will definitely be returning too when I do the walk from Goathland over the moors. I might even look to stay at one of the several B&B's that are in the village.

Whitby:

The end of the Esk Valley Line and also the end of the North Yorkshire Moor Railways. The station to be honest compared to the rest of the stations on the NYMR is not all that impressive. That said, to be honest it might be amazing, every time I visit it is always so busy I have never been able to have a proper look around to take it in! What I do know is Whitby is an amazing place to visit, and I highly recommend you do!

My final thoughts

My final thoughts of the line are that it's quite possibly one of my favourite Heritage Line in Britain, alongside the West Somerset Railway. Every station on the line is a delight and every view in between the stations just leaves you staring out of the window in awe of the scenery.

If you want to visit this wonderful heritage line (WHICH I ENCOURAGE YOU TO DO!) then I recommend you visit www.nymr.co.uk where you can see much more information. Although this season is coming to an end for normal services. There is still some Santa Specials should you want to take the kids and family on a unique Christmas trip! If the Santa specials are not for you, take a look at the page and start planning your own trip for next year!

I will leave you with some more photos from the scenery between the stations on the line.

Thank you for reading and I hope your inspired to visit the NYMR yourself at some point :)

Reuse only by permission.

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