VISITORS flocked to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway to help the historic attraction celebrate its 30th birthday.
The steam railway has been carrying ordinary passengers instead of just members for three decades. Now it is the most popular heritage railway in the country and carried almost 300,000 passengers last year.
To mark the occasion over the Bank Holiday weekend, the railway extended its operations on the Esk Valley branch, running two steam trains a day from Whitby to Glaisdale, connecting with its regular services at Grosmont. The special services were the first steam trains to travel on this section since before 1965.
The railway also celebrated the anniversary with a birthday cake, cut by one of its engine drivers, John Walker.
Updated: 09:50 Monday, May 05, 2003
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