Ready for the 2026 season, Wensleydale Railway volunteers have been carrying out some essential maintenance to ensure they are ready for opening.

The line has numerous bridges along it, and the volunteers have been making repairs to a bridge at Stoop House Farm, near Leyburn.

The bridge had water damage, which was worsening and needed to be repaired as soon as possible due to its vital nature.

Volunteers removed vegetation, along with sections of rail and ballast, so that they could access the bridge deck and work on some masonry repairs.

A specialist contractor was then called in to install a waterproof membrane to protect the bridge, and then the ballast and rail could be reinstalled.

“This project took 5 weeks to complete and involved volunteers from our Vegetation, Direct Works and P-Way teams, as well as Operations and Office staff. We had a short window of time to complete this work, before our first scheduled train services of the year were due to start. The work required considerable co-ordination across our volunteer teams and much of the work was done in very poor weather. I would like to thank everyone involved in successfully completing this work”.

Graham Boyd, who led the project