Date: 24/03/2018

On the brink of financial ruin, faced with escalating debts and no obvious answers, directors at one of Yorkshires best-loved railways were last summer forced to make a difficult decision. The sale of Aysgarth Station, one of the Wensleydale Railways most treasured assets, also meant the abandonment of long-held hopes to restore the line from Garsdale to Northallerton. But six months on, as board members reveal a radical new direction, they say it has also bought them the time to turn around the fortunes of this Dales institution.

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One of Yorkshires best-loved railways back on right track for future after station sale decision

Yorkshire Post

On the brink of financial ruin, faced with escalating debts and no obvious answers, directors at one of Yorkshire’s best-loved railways were last summer forced to make a difficult decision.

Related images

K1 62005 is serviced and watered during a stopover during the Wensleydale and Durham Coast railtour at Leyburn on 21 March 2015. The K1 had taken the train to Redmire but was now on the rear, as 61994 was leading the special on its way back to Northallerton.
Location: Leyburn
Company: Bedale and Leyburn Railway
21/03/2015 Mark Bartlett

62005+D5160 at Redmire with the SLS Three Dales Railtour on 20 May 1967. The diesel had joined the rear of the train at Northallerton for the journey along Wensleydale in order to assist with the run-round manoeuvre at Redmire, where the loop was shorter than the train. With the run-round completed 62005+D5160 are seen ready to depart on the next leg of the tour to Darlington, at which point the diesel was released.
Location: Redmire
Company: Hawes Branch (North Eastern Railway)
20/05/1967 Robin Barbour Collection (Courtesy Bruce McCartney)

View east along the trackbed towards the former Aysgarth station and the route through Wensleydale to Northallerton on 3 November 2004. The railway bridge that once spanned Church Bank road, between the camera and the wooden fence, is long gone.
Location: Aysgarth
Company: Hawes Branch (North Eastern Railway)
03/11/2004 John Furnevel