Railway to Greenway Project

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For hundreds of years, the favoured route from Selby to York was by boat along the River Ouse. Then, in 1871 the railway line was opened. It remained the East Coast main line from London to Edinburgh until the creation of the Selby Coalfield forced its diversion in 1983. Today you can follow the route on foot, by bicycle or on horseback.

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The Railway to Greenway project charts the history of this route, exploring the impact of the changes on local communities. Work will continue throughout the year and beyond. Comments or additional material always welcome.

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Watch our Greenway video and York TV interview about the project, or visit the Railway to Greenway website for more information.

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York Greenways Mapping App

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Marc has developed an app which maps out the greenways and points of interest along them. Visit the Maps page for more info, or click here to view the map! 

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Cycle the Solar System

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The Cycle the Solar System project was created in 1999 by the University of York. This scale model of the Solar System is spread out along 6.4 miles of the old East Coast main-line railway. Along it you can find scale models of all the planets in our solar system as well as models of the Cassini and Voyager spacecraft. The scale of the model is 575,872,239 to 1. So every 100 metres along the track corresponds to more than 57 million kilometres in space. This means that along the route the speed of light is about 1.16 mph, so it is easy to walk at around 3 times the speed of light and to cycle at about 10 times the speed of light!  

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Walk or cycle the Solar System (at your own pace!) by joining the York - Selby cycle path anywhere along the greenway. More info on the Cycle the Solar System website here. 

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Trust Hut 

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The Trust Hut will re-open once the weather warms up a bit is based on the edge of the York - Selby cycle path near the old Naburn Station. Buy a hot or cold drink and a snack and pay as you feel! Opening times vary, but are usually on the weekends.

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Audrey Harmer has run the Trust Hut for several years offering refreshments and pleasant and convenient meeting place a comfortable distance along the path from Bishopthrope and York. It offers a community service to Naburn village.

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In 2018, before lockdown, The University of York published a report, citing the Trust Hut as an exemplar of how environmental policy should refocus on encouraging 'green corridors' to promote wellbeing and biodiversity.

 

York Greenways helps with maintenance of the site. Volunteers to help staff the pop-up cafe are always needed.

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Biodiversity - the Wildflower Project

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The SSG is a Site of Interest for Nature Conservation (SINC) a green corridor allowing the migration of species, particularly important with climate change. This project is logging the amazing number of species of wildflower alon the path and will lead to talks and interpretation to spread the word. Funding has been donated by Two Ridings Foundation and Friends of Trans Pennine Trail