Stainmore Railway Company

Stainmore Railway Company Heritage centre & operational railway in the upper Eden Valley, open 10am - 4pm on Sundays Easter -
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A volunteer run not for profit company which is open on Sundays Easter - December. We have a small museum, a wide range of rolling stock and we operate trains on some event weekends (see website for details). Admission is free and charges apply for train rides and some special events. Saturday opening 10am - 4pm is currently limited to special events and additional days are subject to volunteer av

ailability (see website for details). We have volunteer working parties during the week and welcome new volunteers of all ages. Please see our website for details of how to join our friendly group of volunteers.

03/09/2026

Our volunteers have been busy this week in a variety of projects after the weekend train operation
The include the following
1. Permanent way cutting rails and maintenance
2. Restoration work on our wooden carriages
3. Rebuilding the junction signal box
4. Repainting diesel locomotive Stanton 50
5. Signalling and telegraph work to commission the S&DR signal box.
6. Administration work from home
7. Maintaining our hanging baskets and gardening
8. Work on the electrics and workshop
9.Looking after the station cats

If you want to be part of our volunteer team email [email protected] or call in on a Sunday (10am til 4 pm) to find out more.

Work continues steadily on NER 5 Compartment 3rd No. 2051. Refurbishment and shortening of the underframe (previously pu...
31/08/2026

Work continues steadily on NER 5 Compartment 3rd No. 2051. Refurbishment and shortening of the underframe (previously purchased from Stephen Middleton) continues. It has been placed on a scaffolding support professionally constructed by Bell & Prime, our regular contractors.
Both solebars have been removed (Photos 1 & 2) to facilitate their shortening and the cutting of new tenons to enable them to be attached to the replacement NER-pattern headstocks. Once they have been shortened, the steel flitch plates will be offered up, marked out and cut to their new length.
With the solebars off the underframe, we spent a day driving out old fastenings (Photo 3) that had secured the body that the underframe used to carry and items such as the spring hangers. This involved a lot of hard work with a sledgehammer as the fastenings were the remains of those fitted in 1889 - they are corroded and deformed after 137 years and we will not be reusing them! The holes will be cleaned out and plugged with hardwood dowels.
Ferrous fittings are being removed from the underframe, descaled, treated with a rust converter if necessary and painted ready for refitting (Photo 4). All these parts are labelled so that they go back in their correct place. Their fastenings will be renewed.

We are pleased to report that, following a few weeks operating our passenger service with diesel traction, we were able ...
30/08/2026

We are pleased to report that, following a few weeks operating our passenger service with diesel traction, we were able to offer visitors some steam today following a significant amount of rain in recent days - including the heavy downpour, thunder and lightning late this afternoon.
'Lytham' was in service hauling the two Gresley coaches and appropriately carried a headboard, kindly supplied by our good friends in the Gresley Society Trust, to mark the 150th Anniversary year of Sir Nigel's birth.
In addition, we were delighted to welcome a number of visitors who were able to enjoy a free ride(s) on production of a recent lottery ticket. We have been fortunate to obtain 4 significant grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund / National Lottery Heritage Fund - 3 of which were with our partners, the Locomotive Conservation and Learning Trust. These grants have helped fund our 'Stainmore 150' and 'West Side Story' Galas along with schemes such as the restoration of the NER Bogie Stores Van, reconstruction of the S&DR signal box, the water tower project and the ongoing major overhaul of NER Class C No. 876. Without the lottery players, this would not have been possible, so a huge 'THANK YOU' to all those who purchase lottery tickets - we hope that you feel the KSE project is worthy of your support.
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30/08/2026

Thank you to all our visitors today. Our volunteers loved meeting you.

Our final steam train rides of the Summer will take place on Sunday 30th August. The site is open 10am - 4pm and our fir...
26/08/2026

Our final steam train rides of the Summer will take place on Sunday 30th August. The site is open 10am - 4pm and our first train will be departing at 10:30. The train will include our resident Gresley teak set TTO 60505 and BTK 3669 and Hibberd Planet 0-4-0 Elizabeth. No pre-booking is required.
We are supported by grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund. As a thank you to lottery players anyone who visits us this weekend with a UK Lotto ticket purchased in August 2026 will have FREE travel on Sunday 30th August.

Following up on our post earlier this week on the arrival of NER Open Third No. 945, we have been undertaking some initi...
23/08/2026

Following up on our post earlier this week on the arrival of NER Open Third No. 945, we have been undertaking some initial work this weekend and attached are a couple of internal views.
With the main operating season now coming to a close with the schools going back in the next week or so, we hope to start work in earnest on the external repairs in September.

We are delighted to announce that today saw the safe arrival of NER Open Third No. 945 for the completion of her overhau...
19/08/2026

We are delighted to announce that today saw the safe arrival of NER Open Third No. 945 for the completion of her overhaul and subsequent operation at KSE.
Very many thanks to Paul Ramsden and his team at Rampart Engineering, to Gareth and the team responsible for the haulage, to the 9F Locomotive Charitable Trust Co. for their most generous financial support and, of course, to our good friends in the LNER Coach Association (LNERCA) for entrusting us with their precious vehicle.
The work at Rampart was a joint project between the SRC & LNERCA and included overhaul of the bogies, brakes, Pullman gangways and buckeyes - fitting much of the steam heating and replacing the steel panels below waist level with Tricoya.
Work at KSE (again a joint SRC / LNERCA project) to return the vehicle to traffic will include removing the steel panels between the windows and replacing them with Tricoya, fitting new mouldings, saloon steam pipes / covers, and overhauled door latches / locks and, finally, painting, lining and lettering into NER Crimson Lake livery.

Today we also signed a cooperation agreement with our friends in the LNERCA which covers Gresley BTK No. 3669 and NER Op...
16/08/2026

Today we also signed a cooperation agreement with our friends in the LNERCA which covers Gresley BTK No. 3669 and NER Open Third No. 945 which we hope will be moving to KSE this coming week for completion of the overhaul and return to traffic.

A good day today at KSE with our guests from the LNER Coach Association and the Gresley Society Trust as part of the cel...
16/08/2026

A good day today at KSE with our guests from the LNER Coach Association and the Gresley Society Trust as part of the celebrations to mark 'Gresley 150'.

Address

South Road
Kirkby Stephen
CA174LA

Opening Hours

Saturday 10am - 4pm
Sunday 10am - 4:30pm

Telephone

+441768371700

Website

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