| The railway uses volunteers to restore and maintain its | | | | stations, such as Levisham. But unless you are a |
| fleet of original train engines and carriages. Arriving in | | | | dedicated walker heading off into the Moors or who |
| Pickering, you can park in one of the many suitable car | | | | knows their own way back, you are probably most |
| parks and walk down to the station, probably past the | | | | interested in staying on the train until at least Goathland. |
| library and various second hand book shops. Maybe a | | | | Get off here, visit the pub and the garage that were |
| lot of people like to board the train with a good new | | | | used in Heartbeat and have a wander around the |
| book! | | | | village. |
| Pickering station serves only the North Yorkshire | | | | From Goathland there is the old railway trail that |
| Moors Railway and you will quite often find a train | | | | follows the slightly steeper path that was needed |
| sitting in the station, puffing steam. The volunteers have | | | | before the engineers could span some of the wider |
| to arrive at the station in the early hours on running | | | | river crossings. This is an interesting walk downhill to |
| days to fill the engine with coal and water and get the | | | | Grossmont and fairly easy to follow. I have ran the |
| engine up to pressure. They must be a very dedicated | | | | return route on plenty of times. |
| team to spend so much time tending to the trains! | | | | The public footpath leads you back to the current train |
| Pop into the ticket office to collect your ticket and then | | | | track and past the maintenance sheds, although you |
| find a space on the train. The timetable varies by time | | | | see them from the wrong side of the railway line. |
| of the year and even day of the week, so check | | | | Follow the path directly into Grosmont and it arrives at |
| ahead that there is a service for you to catch, and | | | | the level crossing right by the station. If you are |
| more importantly a return service to get you back to | | | | interested, there is the path here back to the |
| where you started! | | | | maintenance sheds to watch the restoration. |
| On leaving Pickering, the train starts a slow journey | | | | You can then board a train back to Pickering, or on |
| past the Pickering Trout Lake and Trout Farm and | | | | certain services there is an interesting extension into |
| heads off to the North Yorkshire Moors proper. There | | | | Whitby for a walk around the town. If you want to |
| is a lot of moorland scenery to admire and a fairly long | | | | spend a little time in Whitby, but miss the steam train, |
| train journey to enjoy. There is usually a buffet service | | | | your ticket does cover the mainline train back to |
| to keep you satisfied on the way. | | | | Grossmont for the connection to Pickering. |
| There is a halt, or request stop, and a couple of | | | | |