We tried out the Santa Specials at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway - here’s what we thought

I have become a locomotive fan ever since first boarding the North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) from Pickering to Whitby a few years ago. It was a scenic journey with my daughters and our toy poodle. I have since travelled on the steam train with my friends, my brother, my husband and a baby too.

Regardless of age or access needs each time everyone was catered for with friendly staff and charity volunteers.

Our most recent journey was a spectacular night time trip on board the NYMR during the October half term holidays.

It was a memorable party on board the steam train so my family and I couldn’t wait for the Christmas experience. The only problem was after the Light Spectacular evening experience, there was a lot to live up to.

You can board the train from Grosmont or Pickering - we chose Pickering as it’s closer to us - but next time we want to go to Grosmont which connects us to Goathland, the station which was Hogsmeade Station in the first Harry Potter film and featured as Aidensfield in the ITV programme Heartbeat.

That said Pickering is stunning and is home to an Elizabeth Botham’s shop where you can pick up a famous iced lemon bun.

Last weekend we headed to the market town of Pickering to catch the first train of the day at 9.55am. It was a dark and frosty morning which made our steam train look even more magical as the steam cut through the cold air.

We danced along the station with the elves singing Christmas songs.

Despite taking a moment to appreciate the majesty of these trains’ exterior we jumped aboard the warmest carriage to get comfy for our ride. While there was still a chill on the train we were provided with fleece blankets.

The elves then joined us on board as we departed with the beautiful North Yorkshire Moors scenery whizzing past us.

We were treated to Christmas music, elves interacting with us down the aisles and then a visit from Santa to our seats. The kids were chuffed to get a goody bag which included a gift to create your own stuffed toy on the train. It was such a lovely touch to entertain the kids on our journey.

We participated in a quiz, a sing-a-long and a raffle with proceeds going to the railway which is a charity. We won a teddy bear which we called Yorkshire Pudding as our ride was on a Sunday before our Sunday dinner. After a fun festive journey we arrived back in Pickering. We headed into the gift shop for a browse.

It was then time to head over the bridge and back into the carpark.

The journey was only an hour long which was a perfect amount of time to experience the railway’s ‘North Pole’, meet Santa, do a craft and a quiz.

No matter how many times we’ve hopped aboard one of NYMR’s steam trains, each journey is memorable in its own right and it's the only train trip when the kids aren’t whining “are we there yet?”