The Esk Valley Railway

The Esk Valley line is one of the most scenic ordinary railways in England, and the reason the valley is so easy to explore without a car. From Middlesbrough it crosses the flat land beneath the Cleveland Hills to Battersby, where trains reverse, then climbs past Kildale and Commondale onto the moor before dropping into the head of the Esk Valley at Castleton Moor. From there it never strays far from the river, crossing it again and again on its way through Danby, Lealholm, Glaisdale, Egton, Grosmont, Sleights and Ruswarp to the harbour at Whitby.

The Whitby end is one of the oldest railways in the world, opened in 1835 as the horse-drawn Whitby and Pickering Railway; the moorland sections up the valley to Castleton and Battersby opened in stages between 1858 and 1865 and survived the closures of the 1960s largely because the roads were so poor that the school train from the dale to Whitby was irreplaceable. Today it is run by Northern and championed by the Esk Valley Railway Development Company, the community rail partnership, which produces walk leaflets and a line guide.

Tips

• Most of the village stations are request stops: tell the conductor where you want to alight, and put your arm out on the platform when the train approaches.
• Services are infrequent, typically four or five a day each way, so plan the day around the timetable.
• The line connects with North Yorkshire Moors Railway steam trains at Grosmont and Whitby.
• Sit on the right-hand side heading towards Whitby for the best river views.