The Staintondale Moorland Railway is preparing for its final weekend of the 2026 season, featuring a newly completed tunnel, visiting engines, and fundraising for an Eastfield-based homelessness charity.
The final miniature train journeys of the year will depart this Sunday as a rural Yorkshire Coast attraction wraps up its operating season.
The Staintondale Moorland Railway, located off the A171 Whitby to Scarborough road, is preparing for its very last run of 2026. Passengers will be able to experience a brand-new, fully completed tunnel and enjoy a variety of on-site refreshments as part of the closing weekend celebrations.
A new local good cause will benefit from the weekend's activities, continuing the railway's long-standing tradition of supporting a different organisation on the first Sunday of every new month. This time, all fundraising efforts will be directed towards Westway Open Arms, a dedicated homelessness charity based in Eastfield.
Organiser Lisa Williams reflected on how quickly the season has passed and explained the decision to support the Eastfield charity.
She confirms it's the last train of 2026 on Sunday:
"It is. I can't believe it's all gone by so quickly. We just get into the flow of it all again and it's time to pack up again for the year. But yes, we're we're doing it for Westway Open Arms charity, which is a new one to us. They're based out at Eastfield. So, it's a homeless charity that look after people and so we thought we'd try them this year. We've covered Samaritans and Yorkshire Coast Dogs and Forget Me Not Train and Whish was very good as well last month. So yeah, it's been a good year, really good year. A bit of a challenge with the weather. We haven't been able to run steam engines at all. Which you know, sensibly, we've decided not to either this weekend, but got plenty of other attractions."
Despite the weather-related suspension of traditional steam engines, the final event promises fresh and exciting highlights for miniature railway enthusiasts and families alike. A volunteer from nearby Skelby has purchased a new engine for the track, while a special guest from the Great Cockcrow Railway in Surrey is travelling up for the occasion.
Lisa Williams detailed the collaborative nature of the miniature railway community and the excitement surrounding the new additions to the track.
"We've actually got some visiting engines this weekend as well. One of our volunteers has actually bought a new engine, so he's bringing that up and we've got a friend of ours that runs the Great Cockrow railway down in Surrey coming up as well for the weekends. Paul's decided he wants one of these engines and we said he's obviously very welcome to. He only lives down the road from us in Scalby, so he's very welcome to ride it and he'll take it to other railways during the year and run it on other railways. It's a funny thing that the 7 and 1/4 inch society are very open to you taking your engines, you go around to other railways visiting and people are delighted to have a visiting engine for the weekend. So, that is good fun. And yeah, we've built a tunnel now as well, which I've got a brand new tunnel that's all completed."
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