The North Yorkshire Moors Railway has officially opened its £4m Carriage Stable at Pickering and Volunteer Development Hub at Stape.
The official opening saw VIP guests such as Professor David Stocker, Trustee of The National Lottery Heritage Fund and David Renwick, the Fund's Northern Regional Director alongside staff members, trustees, donors and volunteers of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR). Both of the projects are key parts of the NYMR's £10 million Yorkshire's Magnificent Journey (YMJ) Appeal.
Guests were treated to a tour of the carriage care facility and volunteer hub and got a chance to see the iconic steam locomotive Tornado.
The Carriage Stable is a five-track, single-story structure with a cantilevered roof and can house up to 40 of the railway's heritage carriages and will allow vital servicing and cleaning tasks to be carried out undercover. The Carriage Stable will be in full use during 2022.
The funding from the Yorkshire's Magnificent Journey Appeal has meant that NYMR has been able to completely redevelop the old school at Stape re-purposing it as ‘The Outstation' which is the railways brand new Volunteer Development Hub and outreach centre.
The Outstation brings a 20-berth, fully equipped facility allowing NYMR to give unrivalled levels of engagements and experiences to both new and none traditional audiences. The hub is intended to welcome a more diverse range of individuals from wider communities giving them the chance to enjoy the pleasures and benefits of volunteering on a heritage railway.
The YMJ Appeal has allowed a transformation of the railway which will secure its future thanks to funding grants from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Local Enterprise Partnership and donations by the charity's members and supporters.
The Carriage Stable and Volunteer Development Hub are only two of six huge YMJ projects, others include a new education coach at Goathland, continuing lineside conservation, renewal and replacement of three iron bridges at Goathland and the conservation of four carriages to create ‘fuss-free access, modified seating for wheelchair users and accessible toilets on each of the sets of carriages.
This winter will see the next part of the YMJ project which is the renewal of Bridges 24 and 25 at Goathland Station which is vital to the railway's ongoing operation.
John Bailey, NYMR Trust Chairman, commented: “The carriage stable and new volunteer hub are prime examples of the principal aims of Yorkshire's Magnificent Journey – that, 50 years from now, people will still be learning from and enjoying the NYMR and the experience of steam travel across the Moors.”
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What a magnificent structure, and what a valuable asset for the railway. Passenger and freight rolling stock can deteriorate very quickly but too often is left at the mercy of the elements and eventually has to be coimpletely rebuilt or scrapped. I hope that other preserved railways can prioritise protection of their rolling stock.
No matter how glamorous the loco, the carriage is what 99.9% of the railway-using public interact with, so carriages are arguably of greater historical significance than the motive power that hauls them. In the case of the ubiquitous, but (in preservation terms) shockingly neglected, EMU, the two elements come together of course.
Freight rolling stock, which made most railway companies the greater part of their profits, is even more poorly served by the preservation movement. What I would love to see is a re-creation of a busy goods yard, which would allow demonstrations of shunting, train make-up, loading and unloading, cartage etc.