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.

A second post for you all today. After much effort involving weight calculations, detailed discussions with our scaff...
07/09/2026

A second post for you all today.
After much effort involving weight calculations, detailed discussions with our scaffolding contractors, Method Statements, Risk Assessments etc, the signalling installation team were ready to complete the er****on of the main components of the NER Northern Division lattice signal by fitting the 'T-Piece' which forms the landing, and the two dolls. As Tim reports in the latest post on the blog, https://ksesignalling.blogspot.com although a few minor 'tweaks' were required to the plans as the job progressed, it was undertaken very successfully and safely.
For those of you wondering why we are erecting NER Northern Division signals, the history is as follows: essentially the S&DR became the NER Central Division. When the Central Division was abolished in 1899, everything west of Barnard Castle East 'box became NER Northern Division. Thus, over time, when minor alterations were made, examples of NER Northern Division signalling began to appear at KSE.
Thus, our approach is to not just rebuild both the S&DR & NER Central Division Junction 'boxes, but also to recreate the mix of NER Central & Northern Division signalling at KSE. This, of course, is not a cheap exercise requiring finding (or producing from surviving components) appropriate drawings, manufacturing patterns, getting components cast, machined etc.
As ever, a huge 'THANK YOU' to all involved in funding and undertaking the work.

Work continues on NER Passenger Brake Van No. 131. The exterior has now been completely clad in new sheeting. Cutting & ...
07/09/2026

Work continues on NER Passenger Brake Van No. 131. The exterior has now been completely clad in new sheeting. Cutting & fastening the planted mouldings has resumed and this has thrown up some issues. The replacement, correctly aligned, side and end bottom rails, together with the new door, or repaired, door pillars and cantrails that have had their height corrected, has resulted in the van's dimensions being altered slightly. Cutting and fastening mouldings to the van sides is not a problem, but the ends have caused a little head-scratching.
Many of the mouldings we are using have been reclaimed from an earlier, unsuccessful restoration attempt. These mouldings were made to suit the van's dimensions at the time. We don't make the mouldings in-house as we haven't the facilities and no-one in the workforce has the necessary skills. Machining of the mouldings has been undertaken by a trusted joinery firm which can be costly, especially with the larger, more elaborate examples that you can see in the photos immediately below the roof line. Disposing of them and having a new batch made isn't a good way to spend money especially when the discrepancies are so small. A lot of time has been spent on setting out with much careful measuring before cutting and fastening - the first two photos show the progress made on No. 131 this weekend. We also include here a photograph from our collection that shows the end of an identical van with the mouldings in place. We hope you will agree that we are getting the right result.
We have all the body handrails - these will be attached once the mouldings have been fastened.

We are open to the public Sunday 6th September 10am to 4pm. No trains runnning but plenty to see and free hot drinks on ...
05/09/2026

We are open to the public Sunday 6th September 10am to 4pm. No trains runnning but plenty to see and free hot drinks on the platform. Site tours 10:30, 11:30, 13:30 and 14:30 no pre booking required maximum 12 people per tour. Please note the signal box is wheelchair accessible but the restoration shed is not.

Tim Warner has also been busy working on his Railmotor aka Wickham trolley. We have two railmotor shed at KSE which were...
04/09/2026

Tim Warner has also been busy working on his Railmotor aka Wickham trolley. We have two railmotor shed at KSE which were rebuilt by John H and his team.. Our volunteers have recently completed a railmotor trailer and are working on restoring another railmotor. If you want to join the railmotor team contact [email protected] or call into see us on a Sunday 10am to 4pm.

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.
, ,

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.

Address

South Road
Kirkby Stephen
CA174LA

Opening Hours

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

Telephone

+441768371700

Website

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