A VICTORIAN station has been restored to its former glory after a grant enabled it to open as a living museum.

Scruton station, near Northallerton, North Yorkshire, has received £37,800 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to develop a heritage and education programme in a bid to safeguard its future.

Led by volunteers from the local community, the project will bring to life the role of the railways during the First World War and will transport visitors back in time to find out about how people would have lived.

David Walker, project manager, said: “We have completely restored the station buildings to how they would have been during the First World War.

“However, Scruton is a small village so we would not generate the income to keep the station going, so we are going to invite school parties to catch the train at Leeming Bar and travel along the Wensleydale Railway to Scruton.

“The children will leave Leeming Bar in 2015, and arrive in Scruton sometime between 1914 and 1918 – and they will meet the station master, passengers and station staff in period dress who will tell them their stories.”

Mr Walker said 30 schools had already signed up to visit the interactive museum, with the first group set to arrive in July.

Until then, Mr Walker said the volunteers were busy preparing curriculum-based activities, writing scripts for local actors, and collecting period costumes and artefacts.

He added: “We have the buildings all ready, but now we need the material.

“We want it to be a multi-subject experience, so children can test their maths skills with our weighing scales for parcels, as well as social and political history and details about how the village coped in the war."

Scruton is a so-called Thankful Village because all men who went away to war returned – and Mr Walker said the team had done extensive research into the history of the village, station, and the period in general.

He added: “It is a really exciting time and we can’t wait to get going.

“The HLF grant will bring alive the past for young people and bring excitement to their learning. The programme will secure the station for the future and provide volunteering opportunities for local people.

“We are looking for costumes and artefacts from the WWI period – so if anyone has anything they could kindly donate to us that would be brilliant.

“Similarly, if any local actors want to get involved, they can also contact me.”

Contact Mr Walker at david.walker@khameleon.co.uk.