Chairman of the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway has spoken of how the loss of York’s National Railway Museum (NRM) would hit tourism in the district.

The attraction, together with Bradford’s Media Museum and the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry, is under threat of closure due to budget cuts, and will learn of its fate at the end of the month.

The K&WVR, which runs traditional steam trains along its historic line, partners with the NRM for several projects, including providing a working environment for a number of exhibitions that would otherwise remain as museum displays.

And the two groups were in the early stages of an extended partnership that would increase the number of exhibits loaned to the line’s various Worth Valley stations, as the York museum building does not have enough space to display its 300 vehicles.

The partnership was expected to give a huge boost to visitors to the line’s Ingrow museum of rail travel and the Oxenhope railway museum. The NRM says it will continue its partnership with the K&WVR for the time being.

The museum, which has already seen its budget slashed by 25 per cent in recent years, now faces a further ten per cent cut.

K&WVR chairman, Dr Matthew Stroh, says the railway hugely benefits from its links to the NRM, adding: “The museum attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors a year, who have their love of railways ignited and want to see these trains operating in real life.

“They are in the world of conservation but we are in the world of preservation. They conserve some fantastic trains and we try and keep trains running. We complement each other so well.

“Some weekends we get visitors that I’m sure have come from York after going to the Railway Museum there. If the NRM shut, it would be such a blow to Yorkshire and its economy. It would change the fabric of York, and that will have a knock-on effect on other attractions.”

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