North Yorkshire Moors Railway

Industrial

North Yorkshire Moors Railway

This smart heritage train line between Whitby and Pickering is a glorious throwback to the golden age of rail travel. First opened in 1836, it now carries passengers on joy rides through the stunning North York Moors National Park, but also moonlights as one of Yorkshire’s most popular filming locations. Most notably, it featured in the recent Downton Abbey  film and the blockbuster Harry Potter films, but countless TV series have also used its stations and trains.

The train chugs through a wonderfully scenic route carved into valleys and moors, but the railway is also famous for its frozen-in-time heritage stations. Pickering is a 1930s-themed station that transports the visitor back to the steam era with a vintage platform and cafe, always drawing crowds of train enthusiasts. It recently made an appearance in the film version of Downton Abbey (2019) and BBC Agatha Christie drama The ABC Murders, and also featured in the latest Dad’s Army film (2016), starring Bill Nighy and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Goathland is the perfect country station, transformed into Hogsmeade Station for the first three Harry Potter films, and a hugely popular destination on the screen tourism map. The village of Goathland is also known as Aidensfield in ITV’s Heartbeat, which filmed in and around the North York Moors and Whitby. Goathland Station and several sections of the railway line feature in many episodes. Grosmont Station is home to the operating and engineering world of the NYMR, where visitors can catch a glimpse of the work taking place on the engines – it also makes an appearance in the 2017 feature film Phantom Thread starring Daniel Day-Lewis.

Season two of The Yorkshire Steam Railway: All Aboard aired from May 2019. The series goes behind the scenes of the railway, meeting staff and volunteers who keep the railway on track. Filming at NYMR is made possible with the support from our filming partners at Ryedale Council.

Location

12 Park Street, Pickering, YO18 7AJ

  • Annual Steam Gala, North York Moors, Railway , Pickering, North Yorkshire, UK

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    LNER B1 61264 travelling towards Pickering. The LNER B1 61264 was designed by Edward Thompson and was a wartime utility mixed traffic locomotive for general passenger and freight duties. Credit: Charlotte Graham

  • Annual Steam Gala, North York Moors, Railway , Pickering, North Yorkshire, UK

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    LNER B1 61264 travelling towards Pickering. The LNER B1 61264 was designed by Edward Thompson and was a wartime utility mixed traffic locomotive for general passenger and freight duties. Credit: Charlotte Graham

  • Steam Train, City of Wells, NYMR, Nortrh Yorkshire, UK

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    34092 City of Wells, travelling between Goathland and Pickering. Credit: Charlotte Graham

  • NYMR - Under the viaduct to Whitby - John Hunt

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    Travelling under the viaduct to Whitby. Credit: John Hunt

  • Arriving at Levisham Station - Philip Benham v3

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    Arriving at Levisham Station. Credit: Philip Benham

  • The ABC Murders filming at Pickering Station North Yorkshire Moors Railway © BBC

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    'The ABC Murders' filming at Pickering Station, North Yorkshire Moors Railway © BBC

  • NYMR - Autumn Wonderland - John Hunt

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    The NYMR in Autumn. Credit: John Hunt

Filmed here

'Downton Abbey' filmed in the Yellow Drawing Room at Harewood House

Downton Abbey
Daniel Day-Lewis (Reynolds) and Vicky Krieps, (Alma) in Phantom Thread, filmed in Robin Hood’s Bay

Phantom Thread
'Dad's Army' filmed at Bridlington Old Town © Universal Pictures

Dad's Army
The ABC Murders filming at Pickering Station North Yorkshire Moors Railway © BBC

The ABC Murders
The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden
Matthew Goode (Charles Ryder) , Hayley Atwell (Julia Flyte) and Ben Whishaw (Sebastian Flyte), at Castle Howard, in the feature film version of 'Brideshead Revisited' (2008)

Brideshead Revisited