The North Yorkshire Moors Railway

The short answer

Start at Pickering if you want the whole line, and allow about an hour and a half each way to Whitby. Buy a Day Rover so you can hop off at Goathland or Grosmont on the way. Steam runs seasonally, roughly spring through autumn, and the pattern changes through the year. Fares and timetables change by season, so check the railway's own site for current prices and running dates before you travel.

The route and the stations

The line runs about 18 miles from Pickering to Grosmont, calling at Levisham, Newtondale Halt (by request) and Goathland, with many services continuing along the Esk Valley to Whitby, around 24 miles of moor, dale and coast in all. The first stretch climbs out of Pickering into Newton Dale, a steep-sided glacial channel with no road through it, which is the part of the journey you genuinely cannot see any other way.

Each station has its own character. Pickering is dressed as a 1930s country station. Levisham is restored to about 1912 and has the railway's artist-in-residence, though the station sits down in the dale well below the village, a stiff walk up and back. Goathland is the famous one, standing in for Hogsmeade in the first Harry Potter film and for Aidensfield in Heartbeat. Grosmont is the working heart of the line, where you can glimpse the locomotive sheds and watch engines being turned. Whitby, at the far end, needs no introduction: harbour, abbey and fish and chips.

Which end to start from

Pickering is the natural choice, because it is the southern terminus, so you board an empty train and get the full run. If you are already on the coast, Grosmont is about six miles from Whitby by road and makes a shorter day. Goathland works if the station itself is the point of the trip.

The steam train from Pickering to Whitby: tickets and fares

The standard ticket is a Day Rover, valid for hop-on, hop-off travel along the line for the day. The railway varies its fares by date and route, so it publishes current prices on its own fares page rather than a single headline figure, and any figure quoted elsewhere goes out of date quickly. What is fixed at the time of writing: booking online or by telephone adds a £1.50 booking fee per booking, and booking a Day Rover more than four days ahead applies a 10% advance discount. Children under four travel free on an adult's lap, a child ticket (4-15) is half the adult fare, and the 2026 Kids Go Free offer lets one child aged 4-15 travel free with a fare-paying adult. There is no senior concession. Pullman dining trains (lunch, afternoon tea and dinner) and footplate experiences are booked separately and need arranging ahead. The railway is a charity (no. 501388) run largely by volunteers, so every ticket helps keep the steam alive.

When it runs

Steam typically operates from spring through autumn, with a busier daily pattern in the school holidays and a thinner one at the shoulders of the season. Galas, wartime weekends and Santa specials fall outside the ordinary timetable and sell out early. Operating dates are set fresh each year, so treat the railway's published timetable as the only reliable source, and see our what's on calendar for the wider events picture.

Parking at the stations

Car parks at Pickering, Levisham, Goathland and Grosmont are operated by CPS UK Ltd, not by the railway. Charges apply seven days a week from 09:00 to 18:00 and parking is free outside those hours, with no Blue Badge exemption. All sites are £2 per hour, with all-day rates of £7.00 at Pickering, £6.00 at Grosmont, £5.00 at Goathland and £5.00 at Levisham. Whitby's car parks are next to the station but separately operated and charged. Spaces fill on busy summer days, so leave time to park, buy tickets and board. Station postcodes for the satnav: Pickering YO18 7AJ, Levisham YO18 7NN, Goathland YO22 5NF, Grosmont YO22 5QE, Whitby YO21 1YN.

Dogs, bikes and what to bring

Well-behaved dogs are welcome on standard services at £3 per dog per day, free for members, on a short lead and off the seats, which makes the railway one of the easier days out for anyone travelling with a dog. Our dog-friendly guide covers the rest of the trip. Bikes are carried in the guard's van for £3 per bike per day, though space is limited to two or three per service, so ring ahead if there are several of you. Carriages are vintage, so take a layer even in summer, because the moor at Goathland is several degrees cooler than Pickering.

Getting there without a car

Pickering station is the natural starting point and easy to reach from the surrounding villages. Without a car, bus 840 runs from Malton, which has trains from York and Scarborough, to Pickering. At the other end, Whitby is on the Esk Valley line from Middlesbrough. For somewhere to base yourself, see where to stay.

Making a day of it

The classic day is Pickering out, a couple of hours in Whitby for the harbour, the abbey and fish and chips, then the late train back. If you would rather break the journey, get off at Goathland for the Mallyan Spout waterfall walk, or at Grosmont to watch the locomotives being turned. Details on this page were checked against the railway's own information in August 2026. Fares, timetables and parking charges do change, so confirm before you travel.