More about this Workshop/Service and the Provider
The North Yorkshire Moors Railway is one of the world’s greatest heritage railway experiences with thrills and education at its heart. Let your pupils climb on-board a steam or heritage diesel train on one of the earliest and most historic lines in the UK. Experience 24 miles of Yorkshire’s amazing scenery at this must-see visitor attraction. We will take your pupils on a journey you can’t even imagine!
Our self-contained Learning Centre facilities, on Platform Two, include classroom, outdoor learning space/picnic area, Peter's Railway Young Engineer's Visitor Centre with interactive science exhibits, Archives & Reading Room – the ideal place for learning for your school visit.
A school trip to the NYMR offers a unique environment for learning outside the classroom that will challenge your pupils, and fill them with enthusiasm! Let your pupils see, smell and experience the steam era in the heart of the inspiring North York Moors National Park.
School Station Tours & Walks
A school trip to the NYMR offers a unique environment for learning outside the classroom that will challenge your pupils, and fill them with enthusiasm! Let your pupils see, smell and experience the steam era in the heart of the inspiring North York Moors National Park.
Pickering Station
Station Trail
Visit Pickering Station and undertake Pickering’s Victorian Station Trail! Don your mop hats & caps & find out how this railway changed people’s lives in Victorian Pickering! Draw, find clues & explore! You can undertake the Station Trail with the Education Officer or alternatively undertake a self-led visit by booking our activity worksheets for your group. A visit to the demonstration signal box is available by request.
Steaming through History
Activity type: On board session
Spend all day at the railway and let your pupils experience a heritage rail journey with on-board activities with our history guide, including hands-on collections. Ask about our Victorian re-enactors performance by special request. Let your pupils discover why the railways were a significant turning point in British history. Discover the importance of Whitby and why and when we changed from horse-drawn to steam. Learn about the life of George Stephenson, designer of the railway, and interesting facts about the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.
Example journey:
Grosmont to Pickering Return Journey
Dept 10:30 (GT) / Arv 11:40 (P)
Dept 13:00 (P) / Arv 14:05 (GT)
Free educational activity. Limited Spaces.
Young Engineers
Activity type: Interactive exhibition with worksheets
Do you feel the force? Find out how you can lift and move objects you never thought you could! Can you lift a heavy rail track all on your own? Or could you lift your teacher off the ground? These are just some of the challenges you will undertake in our interactive exhibition which is made completely from upcycled materials from the railway. Pulleys, springs, air pressure & electricity are all explored in this exhibition.
Evacuation Experience
Activity type: On board session
You will be met at the station by a ‘Billeting Officer’ who will check children for labels and gas mask boxes before boarding the train. (We will send you instructions on how to make gas mask boxes prior to your visit.) Once on board students will be shown gas masks and gas rattles, learn about air raids and listen to reminiscence of real life evacuees from Middlesbrough evacuated during WWII on this train route. Your pupils will undertake the activity, “Who will you be housed with?”, before arriving at their destination.
Example journey:
Goathland to Pickering - Return Journey.
Dept 10:50 (GD) / Arv 11:40 (P).
Dept 14:00 (P) / Arv 14:50 (GD).
Includes a return journey from Goathland – Pickering and a free educational activity. Limited Spaces.
Activity type: Walking trail and activity workshop
Discover and learn about the important story of one local railway family. Follow Thomas Readman, and his wife Hannah, as they leave the insecurity of farm labouring behind for a ‘Job For Life’ on the Whitby to Pickering railway. Discover why, as a platelayer over the age of conscription, he is sent to France in WW1, and how, following his death, Hannah challenges convention to become Goathland Station’s first female porter! Discover why the railway became single track between Levisham & Goathland in WW1!
This walking trail departs from Goathland Community Hub and you will need to bring sturdy shoes and wet weather clothing.
Sam 'Nipper' Perkins - Audio-Visual Story
Online audio-visual story for pre-visit classroom activity.
This audio visual story can be downloaded in the comfort of your classroom as a pre-visit activity for schools studying the working lives of Victorian railway nippers, pantry boys & stewards or wishing to uncover the history of a revolutionary Victorian concept - the railway dining car! This fascinating audio-visual exhibition was produced by the LNERCA in partnership with the NYMR Archive & Education departments and intertwines the fictional tale of Sam 'Nipper' Perkins alongside the real life testimonies of Yorkshire's railway workers, who joined the NER Battalion in WWI.
This exhibition took place in 2018 as part of Railway in Wartime and the ongoing restoration of this historic dining car continues to take place in the Atkins Shed.
A visit to a Victorian/ WW1 dining car currently under restoration can be arranged as part of your visit to the railway.
Schools Signal Box Experience
Hop on board a steam or heritage diesel train and take a magical journey to your destination station to commence your new ‘job for life’ as a Victorian railway signaller.
Activity Type
KS2 History / Communication / Science themed hands-on activity with NYMR session leaders. Class will be split into groups and rotate around activities.
Venue
NYMR, Pickering Station, Pickering, North Yorkshire, YO18 7AJ.
Duration
Activity: 50 mins. Train Journey: 60 mins.
This example includes a Pickering to Grosmont Single Journey after the Signal Box Experience, other destinations are available with varying journey duration.
Do you have what it takes to be a Victorian Signalman/Signalwoman?
- Get hands on with the history of communication and signalling from hand signals & flag semaphore to the invention of the electric telegraph and how it changed communication along the railway.
- Have a go at operating signal levers with a visit to our unique Demonstration Signal Box at Pickering Station.
- Ding, ding, ding! Send and decipher coded messages between signal boxes using bells and tappers, to keep trains safe as they travel along the line.
Educational activities are free of charge when booking school group travel!
Rail Trail Walking Adventure
Are you looking for a new and exciting educational activity for your school that’s outdoors AND steeped in history? Then why not combine a magical trip on a heritage steam or diesel train and discover the the history of this heritage railway and its links to Victorian mining!
Activity Type
KS2 History / Science / Outdoor activity with NYMR companion.
Venue
Outdoors: The Rail Trail, Grosmont Station to Goathland Station, North Yorkshire.
Duration
Train Journey: 15 mins. Walk: 2.5 - 3 Hours.
Take a steam (or diesel) train from Grosmont to Goathland Station. Your mission is to make it back to Grosmont Station along the old horse drawn railway track. On arrival at Goathland Station, you will be joined by our walk companion and explore Goathland Station (Hogsmeade Station in the first Harry Potter Film) and learn about the history of this beautiful country station.
Then, together with our walk companion, you will head off along the Rail Trail, clue-sheet in hand, searching for clues of evidence of the original horse drawn railway and the Victorian iron mines that spread across the valleys between Goathland and Grosmont.
Along the way you will learn fascinating facts, have a go at communicating through hand signals and flag semaphore, as used by the Victorian railway Bobbies.Will the clues lead you safely all the way back to George Stephenson’s original 1836 tunnel at Grosmont Station? If so you are a real Rail Trail Adventurer.
Bring your pack ups and stop for a picnic in beautiful countryside on your way.
The Trail is 5.5km long, and from Goathland is downhill through the leafy surroundings of the North York Moors National Park. Appropriate footwear and waterproof coats should be worn.
Testimonials
"By far the best trip we have ever been on! The children were extremely excited as many of them had never been on a steam train. They really enjoyed the hands on learning on board the train. Thank you very much for helping us organise this fantastic day and we hope to be back next year if you will have us!"
The Green Way Academy
"The session leader was extremely knowledgeable and the children were well engaged as she taught small groups in short bursts. The children were able to recall lots of information following the session."
Shay Lane Primary School
"The whole experience was invaluable. The children thoroughly enjoyed it. The day was brilliant - it ran like clockwork and the learning outcomes were fabulous! The actors were wonderful - vibrant and enthusiastic. It made the experience (of evacuation) seem real to the children."
Hemlington Hall Academy
Availability & How to Book
We are ready to organise your special event for you and answer any queries you may have.
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