Monday 5 May 2014

North Yorkshire Moors Railway



Sunday morning was spent in Grosmont train station in North Yorkshire.

A railway was brought to Grosmont in 1936 - a horse-worked line serving Whitby to Pickering,  the engineer was George Stephenson. The station was constructed in 1845. The line closed in 1965 and was re-opened as the North Yorkshire Moors Railway in 1973. It now carries more passengers than any other heritage railway in the UK and may be the busiest steam heritage line in the world - it carried around 350,000 passengers in 2009. The 18-mile railway is the second-longest standard gauge heritage line in the UK and runs across the North York Moors.




 
A lovely little station, with all the accoutrements that make train enthusiasts weak at the knees
 
 

 


Well looked after,





all very neat and tidy.





The star of the show, elegant and stylish,




 
the Bittern.
 
A Class A4 steam locomotive, it was built for the LNER in 1937 and has had fourteen boilers in her career. Initially it was based in Newcastle and served the famous Flying Scotsman train in the section between King's Cross and Newcastle.
 
 
 

 
the steam engine room
 
 
 
 
 
looking inside
 
 

 
 

 
A first class carriage - lots of people inside waiting for the off 
 
 
 
 

 All the carriages are this gorgeous, mellow, polished wood
 
 
 

 


a second class carriage










 
another carriage - first class

 
 




some information




 
 
 

 
such clean, elegant lines
 
 
 
 

And then it was time for the off





great puffs of steam



 
 
 

 
and the noise was deafening
 

 
 


I actually cried out - the noise!




 
And then she was off in all her glory.....




 
We then went on to look at the Pullman, on a different track

 
 
 


the restaurant car




 
Leaving the station, past the signal box
 

 
 


past the Station Tavern,




 
and through this tunnel, believed to be the world's earliest passenger railway tunnel, built between 1833 and 1835 by George Stephenson as part of the Whitby to Pickering Railway. The first carriages to run through this tunnel were horse-drawn and only carried up to 10 passengers .
 
 

 
 


This brought us to the Locomotive Depot, the workshop and a viewing gallery where we could look at this engine.



 
Back to the station and another gorgeous train was stationed there

 


black and shiny





 
More steam
 
 

 

 
ready to go
 
 
 
 
 
 
and off....
 

 
 

 
And what about this one?
 

 
 


Straight out of a children's picture book





Great views of the Yorkshire moors on the way home.



Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Yorkshire_Moors_Railway
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LNER_Class_A4_4464_Bittern

2 comments:

  1. Your train was being pulled by the Bittern then. One of the iconic A4 class steam locomotives. Not quite as famous as it's sister, the Mallard, but nevertheless....! We saw it when we visited the National Railway Museum in York last October when they had all the suviving A4 class locomotives on display (except for Mallard, itself, alas) to celebrate a significant anniversary of Mallard setting the speed record.

    I sound like a train nerd here don't I?

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    1. I've been amazed by the enthusiasm the post on the Bittern has generated - I've had lots of emails enthusing about it and the Mallard, so, no, not at all. It was great fun seeing all of the steam trains but alas we did not get the chance to board - there was a mix up with our party and the station was as far as we got. But it was great!

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