Nostalgic rail re-enactment event cancelled

A nostalgic heritage railway event in North Yorkshire has been cancelled and there are no plans to bring it back.

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) said it would no longer run the Through the Decades Event at Pickering Station on 12 and 13 of October this year.

The event was introduced in 2023 and expanded on the Railway in Wartime weekend held in previous years.

The charity said it wanted to concentrate its time and budget on its "core activities" and events.

A statement on its website said: “As a heritage attraction, we are refocusing our time on the NYMR’s core events and activities this year to make them even more spectacular than ever.

“These include our ever-popular Annual Steam Gala and the renowned Santa Specials."

It said they "appreciate there will be a lot of disappointed people, but we hope everyone understands our decision".

Last year, the event started at Pickering Station with a focus on the 1940s and included trade stands and period displays, as well as wartime music.

Other stations along the line reflected different decades from the 1950s at Levisham to the 1970s at Grosmont.

It said visitors to the railway over the weekend were still welcome to dress in period clothes if they wished.

Earlier this year, concerns were raised about the future of the 18-mile (29km) line after auditors revealed it had made a loss of over £500,000 in the year ending February 2023.

A report stated they also had "significant doubt" on the NYMR's ability to operate as a going concern.

The organisation said as the time it had a number of initiatives in place to ensure it remained financially sustainable.

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