Date: 10/07/2019

The railway enthusiast who saved the Harry Potter films Hogwarts Express from a scrapyard has had his plan to re-lay track at a defunct station to shunt diesel and steam locomotives mainly for his private enjoyment approved. The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority has approved David Smiths scheme despite concerns over its impact on the tranquillity of the national park, the wildlife of a nature reserve and visitors to the Aysgarth Falls tourism hotspot. The authority's planning committee heard the project to recreate the atmosphere of a country station at Aysgarth represented the best chance of reinstating the Wensleydale Railway from Northallerton to Garsdale, starting with the stretch from Redmire to Aysgarth. Mr Smith runs West Coast Railways, Britain's largest operator of heritage steam trains.

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Hogwarts Express railway enthusiast gets approval for historic station plan

Darlington and Stockton Times

THE railway enthusiast who saved the Harry Potter films Hogwarts Express from a scrapyard has had his plan to re-lay track at a defunct station

Related images

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

First station after Redmire on the lifted section of the Wensleydale line is Aysgarth, near to the famous waterfalls. Closed to passengers in 1954, and freight ten years later, the station is very much intact but private property. The Wensleydale Railway's long term ambition is to extend through here to Garsdale.
Location: Aysgarth
Company: Hawes Branch (North Eastern Railway)
29/12/2008 Mark Bartlett