With National Apprenticeship Week 2024 fast approaching, North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) is pulling out all the stops to showcase their squad of nine apprentices.
The NYMR is a charity and heritage attraction with vintage trains stopping at gorgeous stations like Whitby, Grosmont, and Pickering. The railway is largely volunteer-led, and has appeared in blockbuster hits like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023).
It’s not all Hollywood glamour, though: NYMR’s apprenticeship programme involves getting their hands dirty at NYMR four days a week and learning theory at Middlesborough College TTE one day per week. Apprenticeships focus on two main areas: traction and rolling stock, and lineside conservation.
Traction and rolling stock currently have four apprentices based across the motive power department, and carriage and wagon. This includes Charlie, a first year engineering apprentice working in the boiler and fabrication department.
Speaking to Rail Business Daily, Charlie said, “It’s great, I wouldn’t like to do anything else now. The best bit is getting inside the engines and finding out how they work. Getting to know the team and the social aspect of making friends is also as good as getting my hands dirty.”
There’s also the lineside conservation team, who have worked very closely with the North York Moors National Park to fund 12 countryside worker apprentices, including level 4 NYMR apprentice Xander.
Xander said, “During my level 2 apprenticeship I learned countless new countryside management skills and my self-confidence has grown massively. I am now onto a level 4 apprenticeship, providing me with a chance to step up in my career and prove my capabilities.”
Kerry Fieldhouse, lineside conservation and sustainability manager at the NYMR, said, “The apprentices have the unique opportunity to learn traditional countryside management and nature conservation skills in the National Park and on a working heritage railway. Conservation is one of our key charitable objectives and managing our lineside to protect and enhance biodiversity, is a key function.”
Nick Simpson, motive power department manager, said, “Apprenticeships at the NYMR are an incredible opportunity for anyone willing to get stuck in. With the right enthusiasm and willingness to learn, you can really progress into a fantastic career here.
“I’m proof of that, alongside eight other members of our staff [who] did our apprenticeship here and are still working full time. I know how beneficial this opportunity can be for young people which is why I’ve worked with over 20 NYMR apprentices and try to take on at least two new apprentices each year.”
This year’s theme for National Apprenticeship Week, which runs from 5 to 11 February 2024, is ‘Skills For Life’.
To find out more about the NYMR and their apprenticeship programme, visit their website.
