A railway with “people at its heart”

Andy Comfort discovers how volunteers are working with a train operator to promote and improve a Yorkshire line.

In this article:

• The Yorkshire Coast Community Rail Partnership (YCCRP) promotes rail use and community projects along the Hull to Scarborough line.
• Initiatives include restoring historic station features, supporting anxious travellers, and launching a scenic travel app.
• YCCRP engages schools, volunteers, and local councils, aiming to boost tourism, inclusion, and station adoption.

There is probably no such thing as a typical day for Rachel Osborne.

One day she might be meeting community volunteers. Another might be spent talking to people anxious about travelling by train. And one day of the year involves being on a train with the Easter Bunny!

Osborne is Rail Officer for the Yorkshire Coast Community Rail Partnership (YCCRP), which has just celebrated its quarter of a century.

Formed in 1999 as a not-for-profit organisation, the YCCRP comprises individuals, community groups, and representatives from the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Scarborough Borough Council, North Yorkshire Council and Hull City Council, plus the local Town and Parish Councils along the Yorkshire Coast Line, which runs from the city of Hull, through Beverley and Bridlington, to Scarborough.

The line passes through mostly rural areas. But it enjoys a good service, with two Northern trains an hour on Mondays to Saturdays between Hull and Bridlington, one of which continues every hour to and from Scarborough.

Most Scarborough trains run to and from Sheffield, with many Bridlington services calling at stations to Selby and York.

Hull Trains also runs two direct services a day each way between Beverley, Cottingham and London King’s Cross, with the trains reversing at Hull Paragon station.

On its website, the YCCRP says it aims to deliver the four pillars of the Community Rail Strategy: providing a voice for the community; promoting sustainable, healthy and accessible travel; bringing communities together; and supporting diversity and inclusion and supporting social and economic development.

There are more than 60 Community Rail Partnerships (CRPs) across the UK, ranging from Devon & Cornwall, through East Anglia and Wales to the North of England and Scotland. Their representative body, the Community Rail Network, receives core funding from the Department for Transport.

Community Rail Partnerships will cite increasing passenger numbers as one measure of their success. Passenger numbers on the Norwich-Sheringham route have increased by 197% since the ‘Bittern Line’ partnership was set up in 1997.

Further north, the YCCRP claims that decades of decline have been reversed on the Hull to Scarborough route, which recorded a 42% increase in passenger numbers over the first three years that the CRP became fully active, (2003-05).

Many people use the train to visit the seaside resorts of Bridlington and Scarborough, popular destinations for trippers from South and West Yorkshire, and the YCCRP is keen to promote the through services from Sheffield.

Commuters also use the line, and trains are often especially busy between Beverley, Cottingham and Hull.

A car journey between Beverley and Hull takes about 30 minutes, but can be longer in rush hours. A train can cover the eight miles in 14 minutes, including a stop at Cottingham.

Rachel Osborne tells RAIL that the YCCRP has become more involved with the community over the past few years, and she is proud of some of their achievements.

“I was really excited with our tile map project. During the COVID lockdowns, I helped find and trace the missing tiles from the Bridlington tile map and we had them restored at Bridlington station. Bringing a bit of history to the station makes me really proud of that one.”

The group has since also created tile maps at Driffield and Filey stations.

Between 1900 and 1910, the North Eastern Railway Company built tile maps at several stations in the North of England.

The maps consisted of 64 glazed tiles and a further eight half tiles surrounded by a border. They show the NER railway system circa 1900, and curiously include a line from Beverley to North Frodingham in East Yorkshire - the proposed North Holderness Light Railway, which was never built.

Around 25 of these maps were made. Just 12 remain, with nine still in their original locations, two of these being the ones at Beverley and Scarborough.

‘Try the train’ is another project which has involved members of the YCCRP.

Developed by Community Rail Lancashire, it is now being rolled out across the country. Volunteers work with people who are anxious or fearful of travelling by train, and organise workshops and confidence-building trips.

Osborne recalls the first time the YCCRP took part in ‘Try the Train”, working with an East Yorkshire-based mental health charity.

“At the beginning, it was very challenging because these people had serious concerns about using the trains. Some of them had a panic attack even at the thought of being in the workshop, but by the end of the series of trips and workshops, we had a group of confident rail users. It was really rewarding to do.

“One man said it had changed his life, and another man who really struggled to engage has now been at the station helping other people with the ticket machines. It’s that sort of thing that we want to do more of, getting ourselves out there in the community.”

Osborne points out that the Community Rail Partnership is not a rail users’ group, and that their purpose is not to represent passengers and demand better services. In fact, the partnership receives funding from the main operator on the line (Northern), with which they enjoy a good relationship.

Northern has supported the YCCRP in brightening up the station environments, and some local schools have become involved in artwork projects, with work under way to display children’s artwork at Bridlington, Driffield and Filey stations. The children are rewarded with trips on the train, as well as learning about rail safety as well.

For some of them, that might be their first contact with the railway or the first time that they have travelled by train, and the volunteers in the partnership are keen to encourage the next generation of rail passengers.

The hope is that some of the youngsters might also help out when they are older, and the YCCRP also promotes careers in the rail industry.

CRPs across the country try to raise awareness by staging events, and two of the biggest dates in the YCCRP calendar are the Santa Specials and the Easter Bunny train.

Passengers on the Santa Special are treated to chocolates and mince pies, while the Easter Bunny gives out chocolate eggs on board a Saturday mid-morning Hull to Scarborough train. For Osborne, this is another useful way of introducing new passengers to the railway: “We find this is a good way to get people onto the train for the first time, taking the kids for a treat, and we get to talk to them. Sometimes they say to us that they didn’t know it was this easy.”

Once a year, CRPs celebrate Community Rail Week, and the YCCRP teamed up with other groups last year at an event in Sheffield.

Volunteers used the occasion in May 2024 to promote the through services from Sheffield to Bridlington and Scarborough, telling people from South Yorkshire how they can reach the seaside in just over two hours on a direct train.

One of the South Yorkshire CRPs brought a group of people over to Bridlington on a train to promote the through services, and the YCCRP is keen to do more work promoting their line to people living in South and West Yorkshire.

YCCRP volunteers have often been seen handing out timetables and leaflets to promote the Yorkshire Coast Line, but the group has also embraced new technology by creating a new mobile phone app.

The Traxplorer app, available on Android and Apple, was brought out in 2024 and features a live journey, showing points of interest along the line.

By clicking on stations and points of interest on the app, passengers can find out what there is to do nearby, when the trains are due, and the times of bus connections. There are challenges to undertake on the app, and you can even choose which train you would like to appear in the background on your screen - perhaps a Class 170 or a Class 155, two of the types of trains which run on the line.

Osborne tells RAIL that other groups are looking at creating similar apps to promote their local lines, and that she hopes the app will show people what the Yorkshire coast has to offer: “Other lines, such as the Settle-Carlisle, are known for the scenery. Perhaps ours isn’t as well-known for that, but it is a really scenic line. We have sea views, we have the Wolds… so this app encourages people to look out of the window.

“If you know, you can see the Humber Bridge as you leave Cottingham, you can see Skidby windmill. It encourages people to look and enjoy the journey.”

Northern’s Regional Community and Sustainability Manager Richard Isaac has worked with the YCCRP for ten years, and he describes their relationship as always productive.

“The Yorkshire Coast has always been very good at volunteers on the stations,” he says.

“We have lots of people who are tremendously proud of where they live and who see the station as not only a gateway to the network, but a gateway to their community. We endeavour to support that wherever we can.”

COVID forced some CRPs to regroup, and the YCCRP was one of them. Isaac is pleased with how they have “moved beyond the stations and done things that will really engage the community”, citing the work with schools.

“It helps us in the industry to raise awareness of rail safety, but also it makes the link to the national curriculum.

“Now we work with schools and colleges and get them to the stations and on the trains… it really is a true partnership. We have the people on the ground who can make those local connections, and we in the industry can then focus on how we can support them.

“We need to make sure that young people know how to access the railway with confidence and also know that it can get them to employment opportunities, because we know that a lot of young people on the Yorkshire Coast, their horizons are their village, their community. But it’s getting them to think that 45 minutes down the line is Hull.”

Students from the East Riding College have worked with the YCCRP and Northern on a Rail 200 project, travelling to Sheffield and Rotherham to promote South Yorkshire as a tourist destination for people from East Yorkshire and to highlight the direct train service. South Yorkshire students are using the train to visit East Yorkshire on a reciprocal project.

Isaac is keen for Northern to promote the East Yorkshire coast and to try to boost the local economy.

Working with Yorkshire Cricket, the YCCRP and Northern brought some disadvantaged young people from inner cities in Yorkshire to Scarborough, to play beach cricket and then watch a county game.

For Northern, leisure is now the predominant market, and Isaac believes people are rediscovering trips to the British seaside. He says Northern is seeing increased patronage to those destinations, and that the operator is keen to help the YCCRP run events all year round to attract more visitors.

After 25 years in existence, the Yorkshire Coast Community Rail Partnership has just expanded and widened its catchment area inland, to take in the stations of Hessle, Ferriby and Brough, all of which sit on the main Hull to Doncaster/Leeds line.

Northern’s Yorkshire Coast Line trains from Bridlington and Scarborough all call at Brough, while Ferriby and Hessle are served by the hourly Hull/Doncaster trains.

The local town and parish councils in Brough, Ferriby and Hessle have always supported the YCCRP, and now they are hoping to form groups to adopt these stations.

Station adoption is when a group of volunteers, or an existing community group or organisation, ‘adopts’ a station, getting local people involved in the station and railway through volunteering. At least 1,000 station adoption or station friends’ groups have been set up, covering over a third of Britain’s railway stations.

The Community Rail website describes what station adoption groups can do, including: community gardening, food growing and biodiversity projects on station land; installing heritage boards or community artwork; basic upkeep and litter-picking; and working with the rail industry towards improvements, such as better shelters, signage or pedestrian and cyclist access.

Northern supports the station adoption groups along the Yorkshire Coast Line, as this work can be especially valuable at unstaffed stations - there are several on the Yorkshire Coast route, and some had fallen into disrepair over the years.

A good example is Cottingham station, the first stop on the line north of Hull, nestling near the centre of “England’s largest village.”

A few years ago, it was one of the least attractive stations on the line, with the old station buildings boarded up. Since then, the buildings have been brought back into life, with a Community Interest Company (CIC) called Working for Health occupying one building, and The Old Lamp Room bistro in another. Osborne says this has greatly improved the station, with less anti-social behaviour.

All of the intermediate stations on the Hull/Scarborough line have active adoption groups, while some have flower displays during spring and summer. Bridlington station’s flower displays are well-known in the local area, with some people coming to the station just to see the flowers.

As well as promoting the modern railway, the YCCRP has been involved in some history projects.

As well as the North Eastern Railway tile maps, another initiative (the biggest undertaken by the group) involved the so-called ‘Barrow Boys’.

These were children who used to work as barrow boys and girls in the past at many seaside resorts, transporting passengers’ luggage to and from their hotels.

A statue of a Barrow Boy was created by local sculptor Stephen Carvill, and it was unveiled at Bridlington station in July 2024. Many of those who attended the event had worked as Barrow Boys in Bridlington years ago, and the Partnership is now working on a book telling the story of the local Barrow Boys.

From gazing into the past, the YCCRP is also very much looking to the future and its next 25 years. The group wants to attract younger people with an interest in the railway and their community to get involved and volunteer. As it says on its website: “The CRP will stand or fall on the amount of participation it achieves.”

Northern’s Richard Isaac sums it up: “The best thing I can say about the Yorkshire Coast CRP, it has people at its heart, and it has some really passionate individuals who the railway can really work with.”