How much is the North Yorkshire Moors Railway in 2026?

A Day Rover is £38.50 for an adult in the school holidays and £48.95 at other times, with one child aged 4 to 15 free per adult; shorter returns start at £11.95. Booking online adds £1.50.

Is the railway cheaper in the school holidays?

Yes. The railway reversed the usual pattern in 2026: the lower fares apply from 28 March to 12 April, 23 to 31 May, 18 July to 6 September and 24 October to 1 November.

Can you do Pickering to Whitby and back in a day?

Yes. The journey is about an hour and fifty minutes each way; on the Blue timetable the first train leaves Pickering at 9.20am and the last leaves Whitby at 5.10pm.

Is the railway open all year?

No. The 2026 season runs from 28 March into early November, with Santa and dining trains from Pickering in late November and December. Winter excursions to Whitby depend on the Bridge 42 repairs.

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North Yorkshire Moors Railway fares and timetable, 2026

By Jon Cosson · Updated 10 October 2026

The railway publishes its fares in two columns, and the cheaper one applies in the school holidays, the opposite of most attractions. A Day Rover for the whole line, Pickering to Whitby and back with hop-on, hop-off travel, is £38.50 in the school holidays and £48.95 the rest of the season, one child travels free with each adult, and the season runs from late March into early November with Christmas trains after that. This page sets out every published 2026 price, the dates, how the timetable works, and what the Bridge 42 repairs mean for 2027. The railway's own page is the final word; ours was checked on 10 October 2026.

LNER A4 locomotive 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley at a North Yorkshire Moors Railway platform

The 2026 fares

Prices as published by the railway on 11 March 2026, with the spring dates from its 1 March announcement. School holiday fares apply from 28 March to 12 April, 23 to 31 May, 18 July to 6 September and 24 October to 1 November 2026; regular fares apply on all other running days.

Ticket	School holidays	Regular
Day Rover, adult (16 and over)	£38.50	£48.95
Day Rover, adult with Gift Aid donation	£42.35	£53.85
Day Rover, child (4 to 15)	£9.50	£12.00
Day Rover, child with Gift Aid donation	£10.50	£13.50
Adult plus one free child	£38.50	£48.95
Wheelchair user with two carers	£77.00	£97.90
One Stop Return, adult / child	£11.95 / £3.20	£14.95 / £4.00
Two Stop Return, adult / child	£19.95 / £5.20	£24.95 / £6.50
Three Stop Return, adult / child	£29.95 / £7.20	£34.95 / £9.00
One Stop Single, adult / child	£9.56 / £2.55	£11.96 / £3.20
Dog	£3.00	£3.00

The rules around the table:

Kids Go Free: one child aged 4 to 15 travels free with each fare-paying adult on standard services; further children pay the child fare. Under 4s travel free on a lap. One carer travels free with a disabled visitor paying the full fare. There is no family ticket and no senior fare.
Booking online or by phone adds £1.50 per booking; there is no fee at the booking offices.
Book a Day Rover online more than four days ahead for 10 per cent off the base fare.
The Gift Aid fares add a donation to the charity, which runs the railway, and come with a thank-you voucher.
Members get 50 per cent off travel and their dogs and bikes go free. The twelve-month Travel Pass was withdrawn from 28 March 2026; tickets already bought are honoured on Red, Blue and Pink timetable services.
Changing the date costs £5 with 72 hours' notice.
Bikes go in the guard's van, £3 a day, two or three per train.
A One Stop Return is, for example, Goathland to Grosmont and back; Pickering to Goathland is two stops; Pickering to Grosmont is three. Pickering to Whitby is a four-station journey, so you need the Day Rover.

How the timetable works

The railway runs to colour-coded timetables, each a different pattern of departures, with Pullman dining days and an electric autocar service on some days on top. In 2026 the spring began on a reduced Yellow timetable and the autumn runs on Red and Pink days. The calendar on the railway's website shows which colour runs on which day; the printed timetable gives the times. Broadly:

First trains leave Pickering between 9.20am and 10am depending on the colour, and the last between 3.20pm and 4.25pm.
Pickering to Grosmont takes about an hour and five minutes; Pickering to Whitby about an hour and fifty minutes.
The stations are Pickering, Levisham, Newtondale Halt (a request stop: signal the driver to board and tell the guard to get off), Goathland, Grosmont and Whitby.
The timetable's codes tell you what is pulling the train: steam where shown, though a diesel may stand in; heritage diesel on some journeys; and the 1903 electric autocar, with few seats, on others.
Between Grosmont and Whitby the trains run on Network Rail's Esk Valley line under the railway's own safety certificate, as they have since 2007.
The last train back from Whitby is the busiest of the day. Take an earlier one if you can.

In October 2026 the running days are 10, 12, 19 and 26 October on the Red timetable, Pullman days on 13, 14, 17, 20, 21, 24, 27, 28 and 31 October, and Pink on the Sundays 11, 18 and 25 October. The season's last dated day in the published grid is 4 November 2026.

Bridge 42, and what it means for 2027

Bridge 42 is the Grade II listed stone arch of about 1846 that carries the line over the River Murk Esk at Grosmont. An inspection in May 2025 and a further one in December found it needed work, so the railway cancelled its Whitby winter excursions and the Christmas Pullman of 20 December 2025, announced in February 2026 that it would prop the bridge, and opened the season on a reduced timetable between Pickering and Goathland. Trains were crossing the propped bridge by 23 May 2026 and the full Pickering to Whitby service resumed on 1 June. The permanent repair is planned for the winter of 2026 to 2027, if the appeal reaches its £800,000 target; it passed £400,000 on 7 September 2026, with £50,000 of that from the National Park Authority, and the railway's own tracker showed £425,000 in October. The railway has not published 2027 dates or fares, and its Christmas 2026 dining trains all run between Pickering and Goathland. Expect the Whitby end to be affected into 2027 and check before you book.

Christmas 2026

Santa Express: 28 and 29 November; 5, 6, 12, 13, 19, 20, 22, 23 and 24 December. Departures at 10.30am, noon, 1.30pm and 3pm from Pickering, an hour to Levisham and back. £29.50 a person in November, £34.50 from 5 to 13 December, £39.50 from 19 to 24 December; carers £17.50; plus the £1.50 booking fee. Prices held from 2025.
Christmas afternoon tea in the 1948 Great Western saloon: 26 November and 3, 10 and 17 December, £85, over 16s, 12.45pm from Pickering to Goathland and back by 3.30pm.
Christmas North Yorkshire Pullman: 12.45pm from Pickering to Goathland, two and three quarter hours, £101.50 standard, £109 first class, private coupe £430 to £445; no under 5s; not wheelchair accessible.
Festive Travel and Treats: 12.45pm Pickering to Goathland in the buffet car, £130 for two, £260 for four, on selected dates.
Tinsel Tipple: 28 November, 12, 22 and 23 December, 5pm and 6.30pm, Pickering to Levisham, £35, carers £17.50, over 14s.

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