Derwent Valley Railway

Welcome to the Derwent Valley Light Railway

The Derwent Valley Light Railway Society is a small group of volunteers who maintain and operate train
services on the remaining section of the original Derwent Valley Railway. We work in partnership with the
Yorkshire Museum of Farming, known as 'Murton Park' at Murton which is on the east side of York.

The Great Yorkshire Railway preservation society (GYRPS) arrived in 1989. The GYRPS were a group based at Starbeck, near Harrogate,
who had started life based on the site of the old Starbeck steam sheds, with aims of reopening some of the
former railway line to Ripon. The society was formed about 1980, but was forced to look for a new home
by the closure of the nearby Octavius Atkinson steel works, who were their landlords at the time.

Soon after the arrival of the GYPRS at Murton, they were joined by a group of volunteers looking for a home
after the demise of the Hull Locomotive Preservation Group (HLPG) based at Dairycotes in Hull.

After three years work on site developing facilities, and upgrading the existing track to be suitable for use,
the first passenger trains ran in 1993, using ex-industrial diesel locomotives, most of which arrived from
Starbeck, with the exception of Barclay steam loco No8 which arrived from Hull with the ex-HLPG members.

The restoration of No8 continued at Murton and it returned to steam in 1994, and steam hauled passenger
trains returned in 1995.


Workshop and maintenance facilities were established on site, built into former van bodies that were brought from Starbeck. These are now starting
to show their age and were are now looking seriously at building a permanent engine shed on site. This will be a big improvement to our current
facilities.

The GYRPS membership also brought with them the remains of Muston Signal box, which has been re-erected on site and now controls all of our
signalling at Murton. Although the Derwent Valley Light Railway never had any signalling to mention, we have strayed away from DVLR convention
and all our railway is fully signalled as would be expected. Follow this link for more information about Muston Signal box


In 1999, Murton Park station was officially opened by the Lord Mayor of York. The building is a
genuine Derwent Valley Railway station building but was located at Wheldrake. The original building
was dismantled piece by piece and transported to Murton where it was re-erected on site.

The original station at Murton was the other side of the road where Clancey's scrap yard currently
exists. For more information about the history of the Derwent Valley Light Railway, please look at our web page dvlrs.org.uk.

We welcome you to come and visit us and see for yourself what we have done to recreate the original Derwent Valley Light Railway, and if you could spare an hour or two, maybe give us a hand to further our achievement.