Esk Valley Railway

Middlesbrough to Whitby Driver's eye view.

Renowned as one of the most scenic railways in England, the single line branch from Middlesbrough runs over the North York Moors through the valley of the River Esk to the coastal town of Whitby. Filmed in the mid-summer sunshine from a class 156 DMU and from a helicopter flying overhead, we can enjoy the scenery at its finest.

The branch is controlled from the one remaining signal box at Nunthorpe, from where we plot the progress of our train. We see the single line token system from the signaler's point of view as well as the driver's. At Grosmont, the North York Moors steam railway converges for the last few miles to Whitby, the steam trains also being controlled from Nunthorpe 'box.

The history of the line is in the narration by Radio Three's Ian Skelly. The reversal of our train at Battersby is an example of how today's branch is formed from various different routes. Thankfully, it just about escaped the Beeching axe to enable us to travel over this classic branch line today.