A Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year to all our supporters.

Just a reminder that the 141 will be operating daily from Boxing Day to New Year's Day inclusive, then weekends through to March.

The Weardale Railway Junior Club now has its own website. Pay it a visit at www.wrjc.org.uk especially if you are under 15 and interested in helping out on the railway.

New rolling stock in use:
We have recently taken delivery of a griddle car. As well as providing additional seating its being used as the serving point for the festive fayre that's included in the Santa specials tickets. We also have a class 25 diesel loco, D5217 (25067). The class 25 is equipped with steam heating, so allows us to heat all coaches. It has also made life much easier in the turn around between services at Wolsingham, as it allows us to run a double-headed service up to Stanhope then 'top & tail' return to Wolsingham.

73134 and 25067. Left - arriving at Stanhope. Right - ready to return The griddle car is the all maroon coach 3rd in the rake.

 Work your pud off day! (Friday 28 December). . .  is an opportunity to work off a little bit of that Christmas over indulgence and also help the railway at the same time. Prospective volunteers are encouraged to assemble at Stanhope Station from 9.30am for day of friendly banter and light duties. A soup kitchen kindly provided by Kath Wood as a further enticement will be available on site. (hope it is not turkey!) If you could make yourself available, it would be much appreciated. If you can’t but know someone who could, please pass the message on. (Day membership of the Trust is available to non members).

Santa Specials are now TOTALLY sold out.  
If you have left it too late to enjoy one of our renowned Santa runs, remember we are running services between Boxing Day and New Year's Day. Se Timetables section for details.

Santa Specials are now mostly sold out.  
If you still need to book, there are a few remaining seats on the morning trains (10am from Wolsingham) on 8^th and 15^th only. All other runs are now fully booked.

To reserve seats for Saturday 8^th  telephone (01388) 746223 or email here.

Santa Specials are selling out fast. If you still need to book, there are remaining seats on the morning trains on 1^st, 2^nd, 8^th, 15^th and 22^nd and on the afternoon trains on 1^st and 2^nd only. All other runs are now fully booked.

Wolsingham Station enhancements are progressing. The portacabin is changing shape fast as volunteers transform it into a "proper" station ticket office/waiting room. Details and pictures in Snippets.

The Winter Timetable came into force on October 27^th and will continue throughout November. The Santa Special timetable takes over until Christmas Eve with the winter timetable resuming on Boxing Day. See Timetable section for further details.

Special Events planned for 2008 will be added to the Timetable section soon. If you want a taster now, you can download a leaflet here.

One of the problems which has beset working in the Depot has been the lack of a mains power supply. A substation was built in 2004 but was never connected because of the cash flow problems at that time.

Last Friday , 1st November, NEDL connected up the substation so we now, at last have mains power in the depot.

Volunteer Coordinators Kevin and David have been very busy of late. They had a very successful Open Day last month, recruiting several new volunteers. 
They have also launched the Weardale Railway Junior Club for supervised, young volunteers between the ages of 11 and 16. A full report can be seen here.

Reminder 1 - The A.G.M. of the Trust will take place on Saturday 17^th November at 10:30am. Admittance requires the production of a current membership card. If you are a Trust member and your card shows an expiry date before then, you should receive a renewal form with the next magazine due for delivery early next month.
Renewal on entry to the A.G.M. is acceptable. If you are unable to attend but want someone to vote on your behalf you may download a proxy voting form here.

Reminder 2 - The annual Model Rail Exhibition at Stanhope Town Hall is on the weekend of November 3^rd/4^th. Further information is on the Loco Group's own website.

Reminder 3 - The Winter Timetable comes into force on October 27^th.

Mk1 coaching stock hauled by the class 73 loco will be used for all services on the weekend of October 20^th and 21^rd, and on the following weekend October 27^th and 28^th.

Need more information?

Regular updates of general news will continue to be posted here.

Volunteers now have a page of the website specifically reserved for them. It will be updated on a regular basis by our volunteer coordinators Kevin Garthwaite and David Million. Their page is directly linked from the Volunteer Groups area of the website.

More detailed news of interest to volunteers and supporters of the project is regularly added to the Supporters' Snippets area.

Major news items will be emailed in a newsletter from time to time. You can subscribe to the newsletter list on the Home page.

Community Barbecue & Volunteer Open Day - Saturday 15th September, 2pm - 5:30pm. An event for all the family to get together with the volunteers and find out what you could do to help. The afternoon includes a special run to the depot leaving Stanhope at 2:15pm. After the depot tour (stout footwear and outdoor clothing recommended) the train returns to Stanhope at 3:55pm. Tour places are limited so potential volunteers should Contact Us in advance.
If you are unable to attend but would like to volunteer, you must first be a member of the Trust (for training and insurance purposes). You can then complete a questionnaire for the Volunteer Coordinator.

August Bank Holiday weekend - will see the recently delivered class 73 loco in use. Although still awaiting its Weardale livery, it has completed its maintenance and line fitness tests and will be used to haul our Mk 1 coaching stock for all services on Saturday, Sunday and Monday 25th, 26th and 27th August.

A reminder - Santa Specials bookings are filling up fast. To find out more visit the Timetables page of the main site, or download a booking form here >>>>>>>>>>>>

Frosterley 160's second event will be the Black Bull Beer Festival on Friday and Saturday 10th and 11th August. A fourth return trip is planned for each day departing Wolsingham at 18:05, Stanhope at 19:20 and arriving back at Wolsingham at 20:00. There will be a short stopover at Frosterley Station (adjacent to the Black Bull) in each direction. The first run of the day will be the DMU, whilst the remaining 3 trips will use coaching stock, hopefully steam hauled.

Friday also sees the Weardale Railway "Back on Track" summer campaign launch. Now that the railway is in charge of its own future, events and schemes are being planned as a thank you to faithful supporters, both local and tourist, and also to ensure that the Weardale Railway is developed as a community project giving benefits to local people and visitors alike.
You will be able to pick up a copy of the campaign brochure around the northeast from this weekend. To download your pdf preview now, click here (broadband recommended - it's a large file).

A reminder - our railway opened to Frosterley on 3^rd August 1847. To commemorate its 160^th anniversary there will be a number of events centred on the village.
On the evening of Friday 3^rd August there is a ceilidh with buffet supper at the village Hall starting at 7pm. A few tickets are still available. Contact Arthur, 0191 5226184, to book.
Also in the Village Hall on Saturday 4^th and Sunday 5^th there is free entry to an Exhibition including displays of the history of the railway and its quarrying roots, minerals from Killhope Leadmining Centre, the future proposals for the Lafarge site at Eastgate and much more. Children's activities are also planned including a "Santa Special preview".
Historic film footage will be showing throughout the day, and refreshments will also be available.
The exhibition will be open from 10am - 4pm on Saturday and from noon - 4pm on Sunday.

The creditors of the old Weardale Railways Ltd have now been issued with their payment cheques, the last step in the process of passing the business to the control of Weardale Railways CIC. You can read the full Pricewaterhouse Coopers press release here.

New site section: Now that the new railway is established and finally about to emerge from administration, we have created a new area of the website to regularly update both Trust members and regular supporters on recent and planned activity along with any other interesting snippets of information. This will leave this main "news" page for the updates that are relevant to visitors and passengers on our railway. Supporters' Snippets will contain regular updates from Gerry Mudd plus additional information supplied by volunteers and supporters themselves.
You can get there from the quick link on the opening page or from its own "signal" in the navigation pane of the main site.
To go there now click here.

Overseas membership of the Trust is not new, but remains a fairly exclusive group of people. The most recent supporter of our railway, Asif Ali of Punjab, Pakistan has sent us this picture of his local steam passenger service headed by Pakistan Railways SPS 4-4-0 No 3005. He tells us it is British built - does anyone know where and when?

added 20 July

Railway services to resume:
Following yesterday's fatal accident, the propane tanker was righted and its cargo transferred to another vehicle. The tanker was then taken beyond Wolsingham Station before being removed from the site today.
A track gang have been working hard to effect repairs and hope to have it ready for inspection tomorrow morning. If all goes well services may resume sometime tomorrow or Saturday. However current advice is to telephone before making a special journey.

Track repairs and inspection were approved. Normal daily services have now resumed.

added 9 pm:

Weardale Railway services are disrupted...... 
After having just started 7-days per week running for the summer, our services were disrupted early this morning when a propane gas tanker crashed through the stone wall by the road bridge at Wolsingham Station and fell onto the railway. Emergency services were quickly in attendance, including the Great North Air Ambulance which air-lifted the injured tanker driver to hospital in Newcastle in a matter of minutes.
Further updates will follow once the tanker has been removed and the track repaired. In the meantime passengers hoping to travel on the railway are advised to telephone 0845 600 1348 or 01388 526262 for current information before making a special journey.

The operating company Weardale Railways CIC have issued the following press release:

Railway company expresses sympathy for tanker driver

The company running the Weardale Railway today expressed its sympathy for the driver of the gas tanker that crashed through a railway bridge and landed on the line this morning.
A spokeswoman for the ECT group said: "This morning a propane gas tanker travelling along The Causeway over the railway at Wolsingham crashed through the bridge and onto the railway, run by Weardale Railway, a community heritage railway.
Our sympathy goes out to the driver, who was injured and his family.
The area has been sealed off with an exclusion zone.
There will be no further services on Weardale Railway until further notice and we apologise to our passengers for any inconvenience this may cause.
We have appointed an Incident Manager and have alerted the Rail Accident Investigation Board and Her Majesty's Rail Inspectorate. We will not be able to assess the damage until the site of the accident has been declared safe by the Fire Brigade and the tanker removed from the track.
At this time we will be able to get an indication of when the railway may reopened."

PriceWaterhouse Coopers, the administrators for the operating company Weardale Railways CIC (formerly Weardale Railways Limited), have announced that all preferential creditors will be paid in full and unsecured creditors will receive dividends at a likely rate of 22p in the pound by the end of the month.
This should result in the company exiting administration in the near future so that the new board can take full control and plan the railway's future.

Frosterley 160 events are in the final planning stages. To mark the opening of the first stage of our railway (to Frosterley on 3^rd August 1847) there will be a ceilidh with buffet supper on Friday 3^rd August in Frosterley Village Hall from 7 - 11pm. Tickets for this event priced £14.50 are selling fast but some still available from Arthur, 0191 5226184.
Frosterley Village Hall will also host an exhibition of photographs, artifacts and models plus details of the proposed Eastgate eco-village, and children's activities. This will be open on Saturday 4^th August from 10am - 4pm and on Sunday 5^th from noon - 4pm.

Frosterley's Black Bull Inn Real Ale Festival will take place on August 10^th and 11^th. Each evening will include a special steam hauled run from Wolsingham to Stanhope and back with an extended stay at Frosterley Station (adjacent to the Black Bull) for a couple of hours. Further details and booking arrangements will follow soon.

6619 is leaving soon. It has done sterling service covering most journeys since its arrival. Its last day of working in Weardale will be Sunday 17th June. This coincides with our Fathers' Day event promoted in partnership with the Historic Commercial Vehicle Society. Big Boys'Toys will be on display at both Wolsingham and Stanhope Stations and as a treat father travels free on the railway if brought by the rest of the family. The event will be officially opened by The Northern Echo's own Mike Amos. More details here and here.

Some pictures of 6619 working in Weardale:

6619 has arrived. It was brought into Wolsingham Station yesterday and unloaded this morning - see below. Subject to satisfactory delivery checks it will be in steam for a test run tomorrow afternoon, then the preferred traction for most services from May 26^th possibly until June 17^th.

Weardale Railways Limited no longer exists! The operating company is now called Weardale Railways CIC.
A CIC (community interest company) registration indicates a company where no profits are distribute to shareholders, instead any profits made are ploughed into the local community. This change coincides with the transfer of the railway's ownership from Railtrack to Weardale Railways.
More details about the Fathers Day Event (June 17^th): The commercial vehicle display at Stanhope Station will include six vehicles, while seven more will be on show at Wolsingham Station. To see posters showing some of them click here and here.
Our "War on the Line" weekend on June 2^nd and 3^rd (see below): the 1940s Dance will be held in the events marquee adjacent to Stanhope Station from 7:30pm to 10:30pm on Saturday 2^nd. The £8 entrance will include a plated buffet. A bar will be available but not unfortunately at 1940s prices! Though optional, 1940s dress will be appreciated. Further details and tickets from 0845 6001348 or 0191 37101471. Though Stanhope Station is the main focus of the weekend it is hoped to have activities at all three stations. Trust members available to help in any way will be particularly welcome - please get in touch. Anyone wishing to help advertise the weekend can download a poster here.
Frosterley 160 celebrations are now organised for each weekend in August. Activities include a ceilidh, cinema show, food & beer festival and exhibitions. Further details here.
The Trust's steam loco No. 40 was known to need a little work. As its examination progresses it may be decided to keep it out of use longer to do more extensive work so that it can return to service with a new 10-year boiler certificate. In the meantime, steam traction will be provided for the "War on the Line" weekend by visiting 0-6-2 Collett tank loco No. 6619. This loco could also be available for duty any time between May 26^th and June 17^th.

Special events for 2007 continue to expand. June 2^nd and 3^rd sees our first 1940's "War on the Line" weekend in conjunction with the Military Vehicle Trust Northeast. Each day the event involves steam traction on the railway, military vehicle displays on the recreation ground adjacent to Stanhope Station, stalls, re-enactment groups, etc.
Entrance to the event is £4 (£2 child) or for a combined return train journey and event entrance £10 (£7 child). A 1940's dance is also planned for the evening of Saturday, 2^nd.  Further details from Stanhope Station (0845 6001348).
On Fathers Day (June 17^th), dad travels free if he can persuade the rest of the family to come along. He will be enthralled by the commercial vehicle display at Stanhope Station.
Other special events in the planning stage include weekend events throughout August to celebrate 160 years of the railway's arrival in Frosterley and the resurrection of the steam gala, possibly this autumn.

Timetables for 2007 are now published. Several special events are also planned for this year, the first few listed in the timetables area. More will follow as they are confirmed. If you are in a position to display/distribute some paper timetables please contact Stanhope Station (01388-526262) to arrange collection/delivery.

The current involvement of ECT Group has had the bonus of introducing the Trust to RMS Locotec who have bought the remains of one of the Sentinels (considered beyond economical restoration) to use in one of their special projects. This sale puts welcome funds into the Trust and also frees up a little space at the depot.

Further space is being made available by returning the Llangollen coaches. They were used extensively in the 2004 start-up season, but are not necessary now that we have our own refurbished coaches on site. Their place will be taken by a Class 117 DMU 3-car set. Although serviceable when last used they will need some refurbishment before use in Weardale.

Mother's Day is on Sunday 18th March. To mark the day why not treat her to a visit to Wolsingham, Stanhope or Frosterley and include a ride on the Weardale Railway. On this special day she travels free with our compliments.

We are planning a World War II Weekend at the beginning of June (more details later). As a foretaste of the event there will be a display of WW2 vehicles at Stanhope Station on Sunday 25th March.

Services are to be extended soon. Our winter weekend-only service will switch to a daily service at the beginning of April. The full summer timetable and list of special events is almost ready and will be posted here as soon as confirmed.

The Three Dales Railtour is planned for Saturday 12th May with passenger pick-up points at Newcastle, Durham and Darlington. The motive power for this tour is to be K1 steam loco no. 62005. Places to be visited include Battersby, Crag Hall, Redmire and Bishop Auckland. It is I believe the first steam tour to use the line to Skinningrove since the end of British Rail Steam in 1968 and it promises to be a very rare opportunity to travel behind steam through Saltburn!
The visit to Bishop Auckland makes it of particular interest to the Weardale Railway, and the Trust hopes to have a presence there on the day.
If you are able to support the event you can download a poster here
If you wish to travel on the tour you can download a booking form here

Winter Timetable services have been ticking along nicely each weekend attracting enough visitors to more than pay its way. It would not have been viable to use steam but the 141s have done an excellent job, missing only one day due to an electrical fault. Summer timetables and special events are almost ready to publicise so should appear here at the next update.

Volunteers now have a new face to help them. Kevin Delaney is taking over the role previously performed by Ian Gardner who has now taken on the chairmanship of the trust.
Kevin will be holding Site Tours on the first Sunday in May, July, September and November. The purpose of these tours, are to give potential volunteers an in site into the Railway and to hopefully encourage you to become an active working member or Trust member.
Tours will start at Stanhope Station at 11.00am and will include an introduction and brief history of the line, a train ride, and depot visit, plus an insight into the many varied roles on the Railway. Stout footwear and outdoor clothing are recommended, as some walking will be involved. 
The dates for the Tours are – 6^th May, 1^st July, 2^nd September, 4^th November.
Of course you don't have to wait until one of the tours to get involved - just contact Kevin for more details.
 Please call 07816 902091 for further information, or email Kevin at kdelaneyk7gdl@hotmail.co.uk

Rail operations in Weardale are expanding. Apart from the Weardale Railway itself, we now have Rail Restorations North East based at Wearhead. For more information about their activities visit their website at  www.rail-restorations-north-east.co.uk

Model Railway enthusiasts will be interested to know of a coming show that promises to continue the excellent tradition set at the annual Stanhope model rail exhibition. The event will be held at Spennymoor Town Hall, Spennymoor, 12th & 13th May 2007. Open 10-4. There will be a large number of layouts with excellent trade support. There will be demonstrations as well as preservation displays and society stands. There is refreshments and lift access to both floors. If you can display a poster for the event you can get one here. (Broadband recommended).

Because of the success of the late Autumn  and Christmas/New Year service it has been decided to continue train services at the weekends throughout the Winter period.
Three return journeys per day will operate between Wolsingham and Stanhope during January, February and until the Easter holiday period when the service will be increased. Normal motive power will be the 141 diesel multiple unit – but diesel or steam power may operate on occasion.
See Timetables page for further information.

The award winning work to Stanhope Station (see Dec 06 News for details) was described by the judges as
"As good a classic historic railway station as can be found anywhere in the UK or Eire".
Why not come and judge for yourself?