A HERITAGE railway could soon be hauling trains into the county town of North Yorkshire.

Plans to build a new temporary railway platform at Romanby, Northallerton, for the Wensleydale Railway are expected to be given the go-ahead by local councillors.

The platform – made of scaffolding and boarding - would be on railway land to the south-east of the line, accessed via Springwell Lane.

And it would allow the Leeming-based railway to realise its long-held dream of taking services into Northallerton.

In the long term the aim is to build a permanent station with greater facilities to allow passengers to transfer to mainline trains – although that will require agreement with Network Rail.

But in the interim the temporary platform is seen as a way of bringing a section of the Wensleydale line into more regular use and generating more railway income in the build up to the permanent scheme.

Only pedestrian access would be available to the temporary platform, which would be about a metre above the ground with a safety rail at the back.

The railway is expecting passengers to park in the town car-parks and walk to the platform – a distance of about a kilometre – and a shuttle bus would operate to and from the town centre on busy days.

However if the scheme is successful and pressure for a car-park is increased then a field nearby would be used, subject to agreement with the farmer.

The Wensleydale Railway is envisaging rail access only by “excursion” trains with the platform being used only as a short-term dismount.

Hambleton District Council’s planning committee is being recommended to approve the temporary platform when it meets in Northallerton on Thursday, April 25.