Railway Preservation Notes

Railway preservation articles taken from newspapers and magazines.

The following article has been reproduced from the The Journal newspaper, dated Saturday 11th August 2007.

Weardale Railway - Back on Track

Tourist rail service steams to a bright future

Photo: Weardale Railway, Frosterley Station

Photo: All aboard! It’s back to the future as Brian Cox of the Weardale Railway, gets a steam train away at Frosterley Station - and right - a diesel train pulls into Frosterley in the beautiful countryside. Photos by Paul Norris. Reproduced from the The Journal newspaper, dated Saturday 11th August 2007.

It is full steam ahead - almost - for a tourist railway which has suffered a pretty gruelling journey of its own.

The group behind the Weardale Railway in County Durham planned to launch its Back on Track summer campaign on Friday 10th August 2007 with a borrowed steam train. But technical hitches meant that passengers were pulled by diesel from Stanhope to Frosterley, while the steam train stayed idle in Wolsingham, three miles away.

When it did arrive to take VIP guests back to Stanhope it was more than half an hour late. Nevertheless, those behind the railway are confident of a bright future, after some trying times. The railway was rescued by a partnership led by ECT, a not-for-profit community group with experience of running community railways.

But ECT chief executive Stephen Sears said that the railway was reluctant to market itself too aggressively until the administrators had paid back creditors - many of them local businesses - a portion of the near-£1 million they were owed by the previous company. In July 2007, the creditors finally received some of the money that they were owed - 22.3p for every pound.

Mr Sears said: “We didn’t want to relaunch the railway with a lot of razzmatazz when local businesses were still waiting to be paid.” Trains have been running for the past year now.

The railway offers free tickets on its passenger service until 24th October 2007 in its Back on Track brochure - which is available from Stanhope and Durham City Tourist Information Centres, local attractions and Weardale Railway stations.

Railway volunteer Brian Cox said: “We want to welcome old friends and new and to send out a clear message that the Weardale Railway is here to stay and has a great part to play in allowing people to access the beautiful countryside.”

All enquiries about this page should be made by E-mail to Daniel McIntyre.
Send e-mail to Daniel McIntyre