History
The railway route which the trains take today is not the original route, indeed the original railway was not run using locomotives but horses and on the particularly steep climb from Beck Hole to Goathland a counterbalance was used. The idea for a railway begain in the 1830's as the people from Whitby wanted to improve communication and trade. Geoge Stephenson suggested that a railway be built between Pickering and Whitby.The first section of the line opened in 1935 and was a standalone line for a decade before the York and Midland Railway built a connecting line from Rillington to Pickering for it's York to Scarborough line. The company purchased the Pickering to Whitby line and modified it for locomotives. In Grosmont a new larger tunnel was built, the existing tunnel is still there and visitors walk through it to reach the locomotive sheds where they can view engineers restoring trains. This is when the route was changed and a bypass for the Beck Hole to Goathland incline was built, it took four years to construct and required thirteen bridges, a viaduct, moving of two farms and the station at Goathland. Thus the line as we know it now opened in 1865, thirty years after the first opening of the line. Visitors can walk the old line as it forms a popular rail trail.
For the next ninety years the railway operated without any changes. In 1958 Diesel multiple units (DMU's) replaced some steam locomotives but the traffic using the railway had started to decline because of cars, in the winter and during the week the trains were empty. The Beeching Plan in 1973 proposed closing all railway routes to Whitby, people complained and British Railways agreed to maintain the Esk Valley to Middlesbrough via Grosmont line but the line as we know it was abandoned the summer of 1966.
However, this was not the end of the story. In June 1967 local people formed a group to preserve the railway which they argued could be an effective tourist attraction and economical with enough volunteer help. The line would also provide a lifeline for isolated villages during snowy winters. The purchase of the entire line was beyond the resources of the society but they were saved by the North Riding County Council purchasing the entire line and letting the society pay instalments over twenty years. In 1969 for the first time in three years a steam engine took the journey between Pickering and Grosmont. In 1973 regular public services started once more which became regular steam services in 1976. In recent years, thanks to Heartbeat and Harry Potter, the tourist trade has rapidly increased making the North York Moors Railway the greatest success story of a preserved railway.