Two visits ever and two thoroughly wet days, so far, at the
Embsay and Bolton Abbey Railway. The diminutive Hunslet-built, ex-NCB
industrial locomotive, Beatrice, took us the few miles to Bolton Abbey. First
class accommodation was provided by this ex-Lancashire and Yorkshire directors’
saloon.
I was told it would cost the railway two million pounds to
run into Skipton again, even though the infrastructure is already largely in
place. Connections to Network Rail and the attendant signalling issues, I was
told, were at the heart of the matter. “You are depending on winning grants for
that sort of thing,” was the somewhat ruefully add-on.
When I visit again, perhaps the Skipton link will be a
reality, with obvious benefits - including a higher profile, through trains
from the national network and increased passenger numbers. It might even have
stopped raining there, by then, as well.
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