A HERITAGE railway has revealed ambitious plans to restore buildings and upgrade the service by tapping into lottery funding.

The Wensleydale Railway carries over 50,000 passengers a year through the heart of the Dale and many local communities including Leeming Bar, Bedale, Leyburn and Redmire.

A major part of the development is restoring the station at Leeming Bar to its former glory. They want a ticket office and waiting room with railway archive and Edwardian tea rooms in the Grade II-Listed building, which has become badly run down.

The railway also wants a catering coach, so they can offer a range of food possibilities from themed events to fine dining. They have a carriage but it needs extensive restoration.

The railway, opened in 1848 and was largely closed in the 1960s, but has been restored and run by volunteers since 2000, with extensive work at Bedale Station which has a cafe, and at Finghall, Redmire and Scruton.

Railway manager Nigel Park said the line generated more than £2m a year for the economy and they wanted to increase that. He said work was being done to develop connections with Darlington College and local schools.

“We are planning to do more with educational visits. A lot of visitors currently get off at Bedale, around 15,000 passengers come into the town every year, and it’s reckoned for every £1 that is spent on heritage railways, £4 is spent in the towns,” he said.

Hambleton District Council’s external funding officer Jayne Cranston said: “One thing that lets the railway down is not having good catering opportunities on the trains. The new catering carriage would be a big bonus and Leeming Bar station could be wonderful with an Edwardian tea rooms.