Yorkshire Wolds Railway

I happened to drive past the site of Sledmere & Fimber station on the old Malton and Driffield line the other day and, out of the corner of my eye, noticed a blue & grey BR BG.

A bit of research later on revealed that, yep, it's another proto preserved railway... http://www.yorkshirewoldsrailway.org.uk

Now I know that what people spend their money on is their business and nobody with an interest in railways is supposed to question anyone's 'dream' restoration project. But how viable is it really?

I think the bit that made me really go "Hmmm" is the stated idea of linking up with the abandoned medieval village at Wharram Percy. It's a gorgeous spot... but the claim makes absolutely no mention of the significant roof falls in Burdale tunnel.*

Although it is in some lovely countryside, I also think that the fact that Sledmere & Fimber is in the absolute middle of nowhere, but without being on an iconic route like the Whitrope project, will also prove a real challange to attract punters to the scheme, especially in its early stages.

Any thoughts from anyone? Perhaps we can have a constructive, practical and dispassionate debate without defaulting back to the usual "But where would be if early preservationists hadn't had dreams?" It's a very different world to the 1950s, 60s and 70s now, so I think we can safely discout that argument as justification for new preservation projects.

Frankly I would love to ride a steam train on the Malton & Driffield route. But is it practical or pipedream?

(*Yes, I am aware that other projects have overcome that other favourite cliche of 'seemingly impossible odds' )

 

The little tea hut on the site of the station is nearly always busy, and rightly so because it does excellent cakes and pies, so if they can tempt its clients to cross the road for a cab ride in their diesel shunter then they ought to do reasonably well, or at least as well as the lads at Whitrope. better, probably, as more vehicles use the B1248 than use the B6399. Their best hope for the time being seems to me to be the fact that they'll be able to provide an overflow car park for the tea hut, so people will be parked there anyway and will thus be tempted to have a look around. The downside of that is the fact that they won't be able to sell refreshments.

As for Burdale, the big problem as I understand it is not the state of the roof but the presence of bats. Getting permission to shift them will take ages and cost a fortune.

 

<double post>

 

They have planning permission to rebuild 3/4 mile of railway towards Wetwang . The BG is being restored as a visitors centre . The Royal Deeside Railway started up in a
similar way with two Mk 2s as a visitor centre . I think the project is a good idea building a tourist attraction in the East Riding of Yorkshire .

 

Bumping this thread on almost three years (!);

For anyone interested, we are now into our second operating season & things are currently looking very good. Our short 'demonstration line' now goes to the edge of our existing site & we hope to have the paperwork in place to lay some of the track we have been generously donated in the direction of Wetwang around Christmas time. From a standing start with nothing but enthusiasm we obtained significant funding, undertook a feasibilty study, succeeded with a planning application & negotiated a long lease, became a Company limited by Guarantee, a Registered Charity & a charity for tax purposes. We do regular educational presentations to local interest groups & the wider public, produce a quarterly (8 page) newsletter for members & attend various shows in the area.

The 'Visitor Centre' in the BG (now in 'blood & custard) has displays telling the story of the line & will soon be displaying railway artefacts too. We have been fortunate enough to have been donated some original 'Malton & Driffield' items, including one of the two Velocipedes that were used to inspect the line & part of an original 'Sledmere and Fimber' station sign that will be reconstructed in due course. Several NER relics have also been donated & we have been given many photos & documents relating to the line including original posters, station garden competition awards & photos from previously unseen private collections.

The shop is now operated from a railway van body & we have another for a workshop. A third van body will hopefully be arriving in the autumn. We have an appeal in place to fund more track which has far exceeded our expectations & we are looking forward to 'breaking out' of our current site to hopefully start & develop into a heritage railway.

Our website at yorkshirewoldsrailway.org.uk is just about to be replaced with a more user-friendly & contemporary version. Progress is regularly reported on the forum section under /The Project/Work in Progress which has had over 63,000 views so far.

We do very well for volunteers, having work parties on site most Wednesdays & Saturdays throughout the year. We even managed 17 helpers on one recent Saturday when laying some track. However, in common with every project we always welcome new volunteers. We have good links with other heritage railways & have built up a good foundation of members with a wide range of skills.

Our site (at YO25 3HG) is open every Sunday & Bank Holiday Monday until the end of October between 11.00am & 5.00pm. Our GECT 0-4-0 diesel hydraulic will be giving cab rides from 1.00pm at the latest on each day, subject to availability. There is no charge for the Visitor Centre & just £1.50 for a cab ride (albeit on a modest length of track at the moment!). If you're ever passing please pop in!

Thank-you for your interest,

Phil Robson (Vice Chair)

 

I look forward to visiting this embryonic heritage railway. It seems to be progressing slowly and steadily with plenty of locally themed interest.

 

Not the biggest collection of rolling stock, but it's a start!

 

It has been a lot of work & a long time coming, but the Yorkshire Wolds Railway has now secured EU funding through the 'LEADER' program that will enable it to reinstate the missing track formation in the next field south of its Fimber base near Driffield.

Work is scheduled to commence within the next few weeks, so our long awaited expansion is now going to happen!

 

Well done and good luck with the project!

Keith

 

I see that you've even got a brief mention by Steve Turner (ORR).

https://orr.gov.uk/news-and-media/o...i3muWqGvzzJdJvFIP5ZKxd2oXk0b80mXNMVwO2Wdn5_yI

 

Many thanks Keith. We've just got the alignment pegged out!

 

We've invited Steve Turner to come a couple of times & he has been very helpful on each occasion. I hope we make the right impression going forward as we do work hard at getting the safe working & operating systems as good as we can.

His article notes the NYMR (probably the biggest heritage railway in the UK) and ours, which must be the smallest. They are only about 30 miles apart but will always be at the opposite ends of the scale.

 

We still talk to each other though.

 

Call me old fashioned but I do like that Steve Turner is HM Principal Inspector which doesn’t seem that far from old Railway Inspectorate. Although no longer Colonels etc.

Congratulations on getting the money for the extension and good luck with it.

How did you find bidding for EU money as a small group? I’ve only done a little bit in a different field and we had a lot of competition.

 

Coincidentally I was driving from Beverley to the NYMR today and thought to myself "why is there a big stack of concrete sleepers in that field?" I'd heard of you previously but the location hadn't really lodged in my memory.

Congratulations on the EU grant (may we never leave) and hopefully you will be able to slowly grow.

(I'm sure you can't be 30 miles from the NYMR by the way - under 20 surely?)

 

20.2 miles according to Bing maps.

 

I see that the YDR was featured on the BBC last night.
Last Tango in Halifax showed Sledmere and the trackbed.

 

Well this is a novel way to find out theres a new season of Last Tango.

 

YWR surely? 'YDR' is often associated with the 'Yorkshire Dales Railway' - same County, well sort off if you ignore the sub-county!!!

Will

 

Oops fat fingers again.
I go past Sledmere about every 6 weeks so I should know what I meant