Ghosts of Station Hall trail

The National Railway Museum is running a ghost trail in Station Hall from Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November, part of their half-term programme. They've teamed up with York Ghost Merchants, the shop on Shambles Street, to hide 30 handcrafted ghost figures throughout the recently restored hall. Each one is linked to a haunting tale from railway history, so as you find them, you pick up the stories that go with them.

Sarah Price, the museum's head of public programming, points out that York is said to be one of the most haunted cities in the world, with plenty of ghostly stories tied to the railways. She says the Victorian style of the Ghost Merchants' figures fits the opulent Victorian carriages and the secret dark corners of Station Hall, which makes sense when you picture them tucked away among the old stock. It's a trail you can work through at your own pace, hunting the figures across the hall.

The trail is part of a wider Halloween programme called Echoes on the Line, which runs across the October half term. Alongside the ghost hunt, there's live storytelling and a Victorian-themed craft activity, so if you're taking the kids, there's more to it than just the trail. The storytelling fits the whole mood of the thing, and the craft activity keeps the Victorian theme going.

The trail runs daily from 24 October to 1 November, between 10 am and 5 pm, in Station Hall at the National Railway Museum. It's open every day across that half-term stretch, so you can pick whichever date works best for you.