The popular Railway in Wartime event at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway has been cancelled for 2020 due to the coronavirus crisis.
This means that the event will not be taking place in October as planned.
The event usually attracts 30,000 visitors over the weekend, however, with 95% of staff furloughed at the railway, planning the event isn't possible.
The NYMR has a Crisis Fund to help support the railway while it is closed, please click here to visit their appeal page.
Alternatively, RailAdvent is donating £5 from every sale of its NYMR Annual Steam Gala DVD and Photo set to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway – click here for more details.
What did the officials say?
Chris Price, General Manager of NYMR, said:
“The cancellation of this year's Railway in Wartime event will no doubt come as a terrible blow to our incredible staff, volunteers and reenactors who work so hard to make this event happen each and every year.
“However, the three-day event welcomes over 30,000 visitors, and involves many, many man-hours to both plan and execute. 95% of our staff are currently furloughed; we just don't have the resource at present to pull this off.
“Not to mention, the railway is forecasting a loss of more than £1 million over the upcoming weeks and the upfront costs of the Railway in Wartime event are extremely high. Given the current uncertainties as a result of COVID-19, we have yet to confirm an opening date for the 2020 season, and the next 12-24 months are going to be a challenge.
“To keep the railway sustainable, difficult decisions are having to be made.”
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North Yorkshire Moors Railway
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So sorry to hear/let alone learn the untimely cancellation of the NYMR’s latest wartime event.
My heart still goes out to the whole NYMR, it’s crews, volunteers, fleet of locos and rolling stock, as ell as to those in-between still affected by this dreadfully dreary pandemic.
I do hope the NYMR hopefully successfully succeed in fundraising lots more than amounts to help keep alive this terrific well-restored running line forever up and running within the foreseeable future x.
Again Good Luck to the whole NYMR on it’s appeals by the way.