A pensioner has paid an emotional visit to York to see a restored memorial to thousands of railwaymen killed in war -including the father he never met.

Stanley Wilkinson points out his father Wilfred's name on the newly-refurbished war memorial in York

Stanley Wilkinson was delighted when he heard that the grade two listed memorial in Station Rise had recently undergone a £30,000 facelift.

The memorial meant a great deal to him because his father Wilfred, from Starbeck, Harrogate, had died on the Somme in the First World War before he was able to see his baby son. He was orphaned not long afterwards when his mother also died.

Stanley, 81, from Dundee, said he had been upset on a previous visit to York to see that scores of names carved in the Portland stone were fading, after being badly eroded by years of wind and rain.

But unhappily, when he arrived in York with his wife Margaret - courtesy of first class rail tickets provided by GNER - to see the refurbished memorial, he was badly disappointed.

"You can't see what has been done," he said. "I really cannot see any difference from when I saw it nine years ago.

"I thought it was going to be really clear. I'm disappointed."However, Rail Property Ltd, responsible for the restoration scheme, said a major programme of works had been carried out to the memorial, which was designed by world-famous architect Sir Edwin Lutyens.

Estates manager Alf Clark said the memorial and surrounding stone flagging had been cleaned up and re-pointed and lead flashing that caused staining had been removed.

Lichens had also been removed and a tonal wash applied to help bring out the lettering of each name.

But he said it had not proved practicable to re-carve each name, because conservation experts at City of York Council and English Heritage had advised it would cause more damage than good.

The council has said it feared re-carving would expose softer stone under the surface, risking further erosion in future years.

Mr Clark said there was a particular problem where fossils were present amongst the stonework.

He said nothing could be done to prevent further fading of the names in future, but there was a Book of Remembrance containing all the names of fallen soldiers in nearby railway offices.

And he added that there would be regular maintenance work at the memorial to prevent other problems building up again.

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