IT LOOKS like the end of the line for railway detective Jim Stringer as this stage adaptation of Andrew Martin’s novel opens – held at gunpoint and imprisoned on a ship by an unsavoury bunch of matelots.

Hang on a minute, I thought this was about railways not boats. And so it proves, with filming at the National Railway Museum in York in this multi-media production.

Director and adaptor Chris Monks has opted for a theatrically dramatic, if confusing, opening to an Edwardian mystery – the year is 1914 – in which Stringer’s sent undercover to a seaside boarding house that takes in railwaymen on the Scarborough-to- York run. Railway fireman Ray Blackburn spent the night at The Paradise guest house and was never seen again.

Like all good fictional detectives Stringer – who features in a series of books by York-born Martin – comes equipped with personal foibles and failings as he faces a career change and the flirtatious attention of Amanda Rickerby.

The confusion of an a overlong first act gives way to a more conventional whodunit in the second and explains why our hero is all at sea when first seen.

Matthew Booth’s Jim Stringer provides a good solid centre for all the mysterious goings-on while other cast members – Jennifer Bryden, Andy Cryer, Steve Huison and Liam Evans-Ford (providing the only humour as the inhospitable Adam Rickerby) – work hard and effectively in a variety of roles.

  • Runs until June 14. Box office: 01723-370541 and sjt.uk.com