North Yorkshire Moors Railway prepares to send its stations back in time

Railway in Wartime Weekend, 11 – 13 October 2013

Railway stations in Pickering, Grosmont, Goathland and Levisham in the North York Moors National Park will see the clock turned back 70 years from 11 – 13 October 2013, when the North Yorkshire Moors Railway marks three days of World War II commemorations with its Railway in Wartime Weekend.

The annual event will see Pickering Station handed over to re-enactors, who arrive at their station in their vintage civilian and military vehicles to recreate the look and feel of the 1940s.  Visitors will be able to wander around the vehicles in the car park, try out an aircraft simulator and enjoy live entertainment throughout the weekend.

“The Railway in Wartime weekend is a unique event in which visitors not only start their journey along the steam railway in the 1940s, but can disembark at each of the stations along the line to experience a different aspect of the era,” comments marketing manager, Danielle Ramsey.  “We don’t just enable passengers to travel in time, but they’ll also discover that we’re only a few minutes’ ride away from the continent, when the station at Levisham is transformed into the German-occupied French village of Le Visham!”

Goathland Station – which featured in the first Harry Potter film and ITV series Heartbeat – will become a base for the Home Guard.  Visitors can take tips on creating wholesome and nutritious meals using the most scant rations thanks to the Ministry of Food, and there will be displays of period vehicles.  Just in case petrol supplies are also hit by rationing, shire horses will be on hand to take some of the strain.

Whilst ground troops are occupying much of the railway, Grosmont station will be handed over to the fly boys!  A replica RAF Battle of Britain Spitfire, and a recreation of a German Messerschmitt cockpit will thrill visitors.  Volunteers will also be manning a soup kitchen and cake stall.  One highlight of the weekend will be a fly-past by a Tigermoth aircraft on Saturday (weather permitting), and on Sunday morning, there will be a Remembrance and wreath-laying service to mark the sacrifices made by so many men and women during the Second World War.

The commemorative event was started by the North Yorkshire Moors Railway but has now become an event involving much of the market town of Pickering, with both re-enactors and visitors dressing in 1940s clothes.  Saturday 12 October will see a civilian vehicle and foot parade through the town, with a parade by military vehicles on Sunday 13 October.

Visitors will be able to access the Railway in Wartime weekend by either purchasing a ticket for the North Yorkshire Moors Railway (advance booking is strongly recommended, as the trains get particularly busy during the weekend), or with a copy of the North Riding Chronicle (applies to the stations only), available from each NYMR station for just £1 per person.

Tickets can be booked online at www.nymr.co.uk or from the station booking offices.  Tickets to ride on the world’s most popular heritage railway cost from £11.50 for children and £23.00 for adults (or £46.00 for a family ticket, covering two adults and up to four children), riding on any train along the rails between Pickering and Grosmont.

For more information, please visit www.nymr.co.uk or call 01751 472508, ext. 242 or 244.

ENDS

For further media information, please contact:

Jay Commins – Pyper York Limited

Tel: 01904 500698

Mob: 07810 546567

Email: jay@pyperyork.co.uk