An ambitious plan to reconnect an historic steam railway to the national network is about to take a major step forward.

Within five years, the volunteers who run the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway hope to have established a link to Skipton which will open up the opportunity for people living in Leeds and Bradford to travel by rail to the tourist hotspot.

Bolton Abbey could also become a park and ride centre for Skipton, easing parking problems in the town.

It will cost between £1 million and £2 million to reconnect the Embsay line at Embsay junction with the Swinden quarry link, a distance of about 100 yards, reconstructing the second platform at Bolton Abbey and re-building the pedestrian bridge to link both platforms.

Work is to start after Easter on re-building the Skipton-bound platform - essential before the link can be constructed - which is expected to cost in the region of £50,000 and the volunteers are already busy fundraising.

Stephen Walker, who oversees the running of the scenic line between Embsay and Bolton Abbey from an office at Bolton Abbey station, said: “Part of the old platform still exists and we hope to start the new construction work after Easter.

“The structure will be just like that on the upward side which we completed in the late 1990s. It will vastly improve things for our visitors. We also intend constructing the track footbridge on the very same spot as the original.

“We expect the whole project to cost in the region of £100,000. We hope to see the platform completed by at least this year- a lot depends of the generosity of our supporters.

“The bridge was there right from when the railway was established in 1888 because this was a huge tourist destination back then. People would flock here from the industrial towns by the thousands and Royalty would also visit - King George V was a regular visitor to his friend the Duke of Devonshire.”

Establishing the link from Skipton along the quarry line to Embsay had already been the subject of a feasibility study which had calculated it could cost between £1 million and £2 million and had economic benefits to Skipton and the area of almost £12 million over a ten-year period.

“We need to be linked with Skipton within about five years for the good of the economy. It will mean people could come by train here and then train into Skipton or drive here, park at Embsay or Bolton Abbey and then take the train to Skipton,” Mr Walker continued. “We attract about 100,000 visitors a year and I can see see that number exploding when we establish a link. It will be a whole new exciting chapter for the railway.”

Bolton Abbey was originally developed by the Midland Railway as a tourist destination along the line from Skipton to Ilkley and beyond.

It welcomed enormous numbers and on one Bank Holiday Monday after the Second World War, more than 44,000 passengers arrived in the station.

The railway is a registered charity and hopes to attract a number of grants, which must be match funded, in order to meet the cost of the project.

People are being invited to Gift Aid a donation by contacting the Yorkshire Dales Railway Museum Trust (Holding) Ltd, Bolton Abbey Station, Bolton Abbey, Skipton, North Yorkshire.