Should North Yorkshire Moors Railway be extended to York? Here's what you had to say...

This is what you had to say after a reader's letter suggested extending North Yorkshire Moors Railway to York.

Here's the original letter - Time to extend North Yorkshire Moors Railway services to York – Yorkshire Post Letters - and below is what you had to say on social media.

Gary Marsh - You can’t defend the actions of a certain Dr Beeching, but I read that, at time of closure,, the passenger numbers were very low. Please correct me if I am wrong.

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Melanie Underwood - I’d love to be able to catch the train to York. It’s a nightmare to get there on public transport at the moment.

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway at Pickering StationThe North Yorkshire Moors Railway at Pickering Station
The North Yorkshire Moors Railway at Pickering Station

Lindsey J Rea - Not every tourist has a car. We have travelled in Britain by train the last couple of times we have been there. We want to go to Whitby and Scarborough the next time we visit and a train from York would be great.

Joseph Bryan Eastwood - Would be a very busy line. Some of the best countryside to travel through. A route for York holiday makers to go to the coast.

Joe Chandler - Good luck with that. Loads of the trackbed is built on or developed south of Pickering.

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Andrew Walmsley - Built on at Pickering and my understanding from the groups is that Pickering wouldn’t want to loose terminal status on the line.

David Beeney - Yes. This would be brilliant if it were to come to fruition.

Paul Hesp - Sadly both Pickering and Malton have expanded significantly around where the old line was. This would now be way too expensive to construct and would be unlikely to bring in enough revenue to recover the cost.

Toby Harling - Of course it’s a good idea, likewise any missing link in the network.

Gary Marsh - Great idea but I can’t see it happening.

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Paul Eaton - How? The route south of Pickering station has since been developed on.

Matthew Palmer - Would be a nice dream, but in reality, just not viable. Problem opening old railway lines, they have now mostly bene built on.

Terry O’Neill - Still waiting for the dual carriageway from York to Scarborough.

Mick Taylor - It sounds a great idea. But like someone said, unless it is government funded there wouldn’t be sufficient funds to carry out the infrastructure work needed.

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Richard James - Been muted many times before, but no cash has so far being forthcoming, the NYMR last stated they would be interested in running the service, but not meeting the cost, which is understandable.

Alistair Trueman - Travelling so far by steam would be fantastic. If this was Government-funded, solutions would be found. Would it ever be profitable? Probably no,t but then HS2 is an ill conceived waste of money too.

Alison Louise Conn - Wish they hadn’t removed the East Coast line so we could have at least gone from Whitby to Scarborough – it takes forever to get anywhere from Whitby.

Tom Scruton - A pipe dream I think. Even if the idea of rebuilding the railway line was viable, running steam all the way to York might not be.

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Steve Daly - The one thing that everyone is overlooking, including the writer of this letter, is that heritage railways are struggling big time at present because of the loss of last season and much modified operations for this season.

Derek Glenn - On the face of it, now would be a good time to reconnect the line from Pickering to Rillington Junction (about 6½ miles) and thus connect York to Whitby direct. Whitby is choked with traffic and parking is a nightmare.

Steven J Pittock. Won’t happen. Took long enough to get trains allowed to go to Whitby.

Michael Allen. This, like many ideas of reopening old railways, is sadly not possible. We burnt out boats when the decision was taken for us to back the Beeching plan and favour road over rail.

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John Alan Ramsden. Short sighted transport governance has made this impossible. This is the same incompetent decision making that is still going on. Just look at some of the hideous ideas they have come up with in West Yorkshire.

John Rees Snr. Should have happened years ago – these railway trips show the beauty of the British country, which people enjoy.

HiFi Hut. Not a bad idea but will it be viable. Ticket prices, coal and water bunkering and line availability. Quite a trek down Esk valley line onto ECML.

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