Wensleydale Railway - (Leeming Bar,Station) — Attraction in Aiskew

I quite enjoyed my trip on the Wensleydale Railway at the beginning of July 2023. The staff were generally very welcoming, informative and friendly and the station at Leeming Bar - recently renovated with a Lottery Grant looked really splendid - with a lovely ticket office and parcels area. The snacks bar was in a modern ex-sleeper train buffet car parked in a siding and the platform and toilet facilities were finished to a high standard. There was an abundance of excellent and colourful information boards around the station as to the history of the line, very interesting.

The two-car modern Pacer DMU set (based on a bus chassis) was a bit worn, but clean and tidy, and comfortable enough for a 40 minute journey. It was noisy and didn't ride too well, though, even at a low speed, on the first half of the route. I noticed lots (12?) of old sets of Pacers along the line in various states of repair The second half of the line the ride quality seemed much better. The lady train attendant was very friendly and chatty, which was nice, though the guard did seem a bit grumpy when I stepped out at Bedale station briefly to take a picture (he'd also grumped at me earlier for walking too near his train hose pipe at Leeming!) The train's announcement speakers were 95% bust, but that didn't stop someone from trying to make inaudible farty-sounding announcements on them, which we passengers thought was very funny!

The rail route is very pretty indeed, low rolling hills and beautiful, serene and tranquil rural scenes, and timekeeping was spot on. Obviously a lot of effort is being made to keep the line and stations looking good.

The terminus station for that service was Leyburn, but the lack of announcements as to where we were and the time of the return train were very noticeable. The station itself was exemplary inside with a lovely cafe, clean toilets and a very well stocked railway bookshop, though I might have wished the station platform was a bit more interesting from a railway photographers point of view (benches, signs, period ads etc). The exterior is a bit disappointing too, the station frontage sharing premises with a small garden centre. Also, I didn't see any information or signeage as to Leyburn itself; where was the town centre, and what was there to see?

Overall, though, I enjoyed the trip. It was better than I thought it might be, with lots of keen volunteers helping out. It did seem a bit dear at £20 for the fare tho' that seems to be the going rate for such things these days and it is a good distance, I guess, so you get value for money. I'd have liked to do the bits I missed at either end of...

The Santa trip was always going to be a love it or hate it, we were on an organised trip by Great Railways, so had some high hopes of the trip even if at our age Santa was not the driving idea behind the trip.

So arriving with high hopes of both the trip and the “market” before hand things went down hill. Clearly the heritage rail company likes the idea of selling 80 or so tickets in one go, but they were not really geared up to take these amount of people in one group. Thee was no where to park, and unloading was a task, as was the queue to get into the “market” which was disappointing in the extreme, apart from collecting your mince pie and a drink (mulled wine or tea/coffee) the area was small and cramped with no where to sit and wait. There was one craft stall, and one from the heritage railway selling souvenirs. I tried to go outside to see what the train looked like, there was a small area outside where you could view the train but the volunteers moved back and forward to the train to perfect the experience.

Whilst we were not promised a steam haul we had hopes, dashed as there was a battered old diesel, but what the heck. We boarded the old BR style coaches, and were met with plastic table cloths on the old tables, and children’s pencil.

The volunteers were about making sure that everyone was comfortable, and the train pulled out. At the next station Santa boarded the train and made his way through train up to the halfway point of the trips when the train stopped and started to return to Leeming Bar. By the time we got back to the first stop Santa had completed the visit to all passengers handing out a nice pen and torch set to the adults - I suspect that this could be very useful on holidays in the future.

When we got back to Leeming Bar, there was a snow blower for the kids which left them coating in damp bubbles.

On leaving the train we were directed straight out on the road to pick up the coaches rather than being able to look around at the work of the railway.

Clearly we do not know the actual cost of the trip, as it was an inclusive excursion but there were a number of disappointing features, not least the train only run up the track and back without actually arriving anywhere, the lack of space in the reception area, and a perceived lack of warmth to the two coaches.

The positives are the volunteers who work so hard to try and make it a good experience,

All in all slightly over sold but I would return during the year to experience the railway with a proper journey to the end...

I've been waiting to visit the Wensleydale Railway for a while. Finally got the chance on October 11th 23. Starting out at Leyburn which is a nice little station with a book shop and small tea room with homemade cakes etc. Toilets are available at the station. Parking is very restricted outside the station so its better to park at the marketplace car park in the town centre and walk down. Our ride for the day was a 142 unit AKA pacer, to say this was a disappointment is a understatement. As a ex railwaymen I spent the 90s working these horrible little units across the North West so wasn't best pleased to see one on a heritage railway but understand from a business point of view they are cheap to run. Its long journey taking just under a hour to reach the end of the line ( currently ) which is Scruton. The little station as been fantastically restored and the two volunteers who work there are a credit to the railway. Word of warning there is nothing at Scurton, there is a walk down to the pub but that was shut on the day we went. Moving forward refreshments at Scurton is a must, even if its just a tea urn and some biscuits. We made our way back to Leeming Bar which is the home of Wensleydale Railway, they have a small sidings and a shed. There is a class 37 in Dutch livery stabled here. Again massive disappointment that to get food and drink we had to leave the railway and head to a nearby cafe. The best part of 20 people got off the train and headed into that cafe each spending money that could have gone back into the railway. So then we made our journey back to Leyburn taking in the lovely views. Overall the railway just feels that it needs major investment and getting to Northallerton is a must so tourists can interchange directly onto the Wensleydale. Getting back to Redmire is also needed, and potentially Aysgarth to take people to the falls. Unfortunately all the above costs considerably amount of money which for all heritage railways is something they just don't have. I do hope the Wensleydale Railway can succeed in it goals and hopefully next time I visit the line to Redmire will be open and I can get...