Following announcements by North East England Tourism Awards (NEETA) and Accessible and Inclusive Tourism (AIT), the South Tynedale Railway has confirmed that they have received the NEETA’s Gold Award and AIT Bronze Award.

The NEETA selected the South Tynedale Railway for the Gold Award following their efforts towards becoming an ethical, responsible and sustainable tourism attraction.

This is fantastic news for the line, and shows work in recent years to achieve a more ethical, responsible and sustainable railway have been acknowledged and successful.

This has ranged from significant investments like fitting a biomass boiler and solar panels, to using wooden cutlery in Crossing Café as well as planting trees to name a few changes.

The railway has also been awarded a Bronze Award in Accessible and Inclusive Tourism. Many measures have been taken and are in the process of being completed to ensure visitors with accessibility requirements can enjoy the railway. This so far includes being fully accessible and also dog friendly.

Before COVID-19 forced the country into lockdown, 2020 was set to see further improvements, such as allocating special quiet carriages on Wednesdays for visitors with dementia and autism, along with modifying carriages to enable mobility scooters to board trains.

What did the officials say?

The NEETA judges said: –

“The staff and volunteers at South Tynedale Railway are committed to being ethical, responsible and sustainable…

They are a shining example of a great community focused venue with much of interest regarding steam trains for all ages.”

Janis Goodfellow, General Manager, commented: –

‘We take responsible tourism very seriously and we try to embed ethical and sustainable practices in what we do, whether it is using recycled materials in our crafts, creating invertebrate habitat or making decisions about our suppliers; we are delighted that our efforts have been recognised in these awards.’

As Alan Farrar, Chair of the South Tynedale Railway Preservation Society says:

‘Many heritage railways have now launched appeals to keep their essential services going; and we are doing the same. We understand that many people will already be supporting others both practically and financially and we hope that people understand why we have launched our appeal. We hope to be up and running as soon as it is safe to do so and we wish everyone the very best during this difficult time. We appreciate anything that people feel able to donate.’

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