STAFF at a North Yorkshire tourist attraction are hoping for an autumn visitor boost with the release of an Oscar-tipped film shot on location in Ryedale.

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway has a substantial role in Possession, which stars Gwyneth Paltrow.

Set in both contemporary and Victorian England, the long-awaited film tells of two romances, a hundred years apart.

Oscar-winner Gwyneth and respected U.S. actor Aaron Eckhart play two present-day literary enthusiasts on the trail of the love affair of two Victorian writers, Randolph Henry Ash and Christabel LaMotte.

Caroline Dickinson, marketing manager for the steam railway, said there were high hopes the film would attract autumn visitors just as last year's box office smash, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, did.

"We can hope that once people see the film they will come to visit Pickering, because it was the town's station which was filmed for quite a bit - it does feature fairly heavily," she said.

"It's going to attract an older market, although it's a bit of an unknown quantity.

"Obviously if the film is successful then we will see the results."

Miss Dickinson said that during filming, which took place in September 2000, Pickering Station and the surrounding streets had to be closed off.

But she said most of the visitors had been patient while the actors ran through scenes.

"You did get the odd person who wanted to travel on the railway, but the majority of people didn't mind," she said.

"It causes us greater work and inconvenience if services are supposed to be running, but it's a welcome inconvenience.

"I don't mind how many extra hours I have to put in."

She said: "It's good for us and it's good for the town in general."

But some residents around the station were unhappy with some of the inconvenience caused by the filming.

Homes along Park Street, opposite Pickering Station, were cordoned off for a whole day while filming took place.

One resident, who asked not to be named, said: "We were told we either had to stay in the house or stay out to avoid interrupting the filming."

Possession will be released in the UK on October 25.

Updated: 11:39 Wednesday, October 16, 2002