This film is part of Free

NYMR News No. 2

Rails are lifted, fishplates fitted and keys hammered into place, as another Sir Nigel Gresley, saved from the scrapyard, gets a second life on the North Yorkshire Moors.

Non-Fiction 1974 9 mins

From the collection of:

Logo for Yorkshire Film Archive

Overview

Not an entrepreneur in sight as these volunteers show the worth of passionate enthusiasm, re-laying railway track using only their own ingenuity, experience and brawn, and dedicating time to the laborious process of collecting waste paper to fund the continual restoration of the North York Moors Railway in 1974. Their labours bear fruit as the newly arrived and restored K1 (62005) hauls a train from Grossmont to Goathland.

This is one of a large collection of films made by Ken Clough, a member of the York section of the supporters of the North York Moors Railway. The North York Moors Railway Preservation Society was formed in 1967 by local railway enthusiasts who devised various fund raising activities to get the line up and running again and opening in 1973. As well as the need to collect money to raise funds, the fledging railway had a dispute with the Pickering Urban District Council, who, amazingly, wanted to turn Pickering Railway Station into a supermarket car park. Fortunately a public enquiry came out in favour of the NYMR and the vandalised station was restored, and is now a listed building.