THE famous North Yorkshire Moors Railway is ploughing full steam ahead with a restored service taking visitors the full length of the 24 mile track once again to encourage enthusiasts to look to the future.

‘The Optimist’ engine will operate the non stop service, departing twice a day from the Pickering base through the Moors National Park to Whitby. Bookings have now been opened for the newly named service from today until September 13.

The railway say the service will give visitors and local people ample time to enjoy the historic seaside town of Whitby before embarking on the journey back to Pickering station.

'The Optimist' 92134 was built at Crewe Works in June 1957 and only worked originally for around ten years after being allocated on completion to Saltley. It was withdrawn on 31 December 1966 and allocated to Birkenhead where it was sold to Woodham Brothers for scrap and moved to their scrapyard at Barry Island in June 1967. Rescued for preservation in December 1980, 92134 became the 116th locomotive to leave Barry after having been there for 13 years and 6 months.

Chris Price General Manager said “Our initial plan was to get the railway operational and we now feel we can progress to phase two with our newly named service; ‘The Optimist’. Easing of social distancing and our enhanced cleaning measures have allowed us to create this new journey to allow our passengers to once again travel the full length of the line to Whitby."