A Ride on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway

Hello world! I got back yesterday from a five-day road trip/whirlwind tour of Scotland, and let me tell you, I'm pretty sure it is the prettiest place on Earth. I'm already looking for excuses/opportunities to go back and actually spend some time exploring. A five-day circuit of the country = lots of rushing about. Lots to tell about that once I get photos organized and get caught up with other entries.

Next up on the backlog is the NYMR, or as we affectionately refer to it, the Harry Potter Train.

You may recognize this from the Harry Potter films; the NYMR steam trains were used for the Hogwarts Express, and the station pictured above (Goathland) was used as Hogsmeade Station. The line is one of only a few steam-powered train lines still in operation in England, and makes for a fun and scenic day out. The line runs about five times a day from Pickering to Whitby, but not all of the trains will go all the way to Whitby, so you may have to connect via a non-steam train from the last station through to Whitby- check the train times before departing, or take the train from Pickering so you don't have to worry about it. We rode from Whitby down to Pickering so we could combine the trip with some sightseeing in Whitby, and it worked out pretty much perfectly.

While some of the carriages (or cars for you Americans out there) have traditional train bucket seats, some of them have the compartments used in the Harry Potter movies. And seeing as how we are big HP dorks, we sought out the fun carriage.

I know, they look much fancier and impressive in the movie, but they're pretty darn neat in real life too. Although we can't quite figure out how they got Harry up on the little luggage shelf above the seats; those things are teensy-tiny!

The train, as you may have guessed from the name, runs through the moors, which means you get some awesome scenery, especially when the heather is in bloom. We were a few months early for that (peak times for the heather are August/September), but it was still gorgeous.

Plenty of unspoiled nature to go around, and most of the little villages the train stops at feature plenty of lovely hiking trails to explore. They'll also have nice little tea rooms for a bite to eat and more ice cream and souvenirs than you can shake a stick at.

A day-roamer ticket will let you get on and off and ride all over for the day, but a more economically-friendly option is to just buy a one-way ticket. Despite the "official" train info that states you cannot break a journey with a one-way, we specifically asked at the station which ticket to buy if we only wanted to get from Whitby to Pickering with a stop at Goathland and were assured that it wasn't a problem to break the one-way.

Speaking of...

There's the main tourist-drag of Goathland. It consists of about 6 touristy shops (all of which sell ice cream, of course) and a Ford Anglia a la Harry Potter. The rest of the village is down the road a bit. We found a nice play ground and enjoyed the swings while eating our delicious ice cream. And then we were on our way to Pickering to pick up the bus to head back to York. A really nice day trip for train enthusiasts and appreciators of the fine scenery of the English countryside, a trip on the NYMR is definitely worth taking.