Malton & Driffield: Track laid!

[richard]

This seems to have passed us by, but there was a note in the NERA: The Yorkshire Wolds Railway (former Malton & Driffield) has laid their first 100m of track at Fimber:

http://www.yorkshirewoldsrailway.org.uk ... d-opening/


However going by the front page, it looks like they currently have locomotive maintenance issues...

[West_Stanley]

How ambitious are they? Are they planning on laying track all the way from Malton to Driffield? What trackbed obstructions are they faced with? Personally, I'd rather they'd spent their resources on building from Pickering to Rillington Junction, then negotiating running powers to Malton, the same way that the NYMR run trains all of the way to Whitby Town. Then again, they'd be faced with reinstating the level crossing at Pickering (a major obstacle), a motorway obstruction and other, smaller restraints. One can dream, I suppose

[Wavey]

The Yorkshire Wolds Railway was setup to recreate part of the Malton to Driffield branch as a small heritage railway. And good luck them I say, I hope they succeed. Not sure why they would have chosen to try and reinstate part of the missing York to Whitby line? Right on the doorstep of the NYMR on a flat and uninteresting landscape south of Pickering. Does not appear to have much of a sound business case to me? The Maton to Driffield at least runs through some pleasant scenery.
I don't think they realistically hope to reinstate the whole route especially as Burdale tunnel is in a poor way.

[Bryan]

From what I have heard at a couple of talks given by Yorkshire Wolds speakers.
The intention is to reopen the stretch from Fimber roundabout to Wetwang.
This is a distance of just under 2 miles.
No timescales were given but a hope that they could extend steadily over a number of years.

[PinzaC55]

I'm a member of the YWR and the intention is certainly to get as far as Wetwang where the station is relatively unobstructed and close to the well known and oddly named village.
Although it would be technically possible to extend from Fimber to Burdale station , the condition of Burdale Tunnel makes it impossible to go north of there.
Rillington to Pickering would be the remit of the NYMR and they are dead set against it so it won't happen.