Weardale Railway
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[edit] Line History
The Weardale Railway was set up to operate trains along the former North Eastern Railway branch from Bishop Auckland to Eastgate, County Durham. The first train along the railway since it was set up as a preserved railway ran in July 2004. However, the railway went into administration in early 2005.
The Weardale Railway preservation project was started in 1993 at the time that British Rail ended freight and passenger services on the line. The intention was that a private company should take ownership of the line and start a steam service for tourists on the scenic western end of the line. Large amounts of public sector grant finance were obtained from various donors including local regional development agency One North East. This allowed a 40 strong workforce to be recruited, a depot and base of operations to be established at Wolsingham, the station at Stanhope to be restored and services started in July 2004.
[edit] Collapse and Administration
The project was characterised by a capital intensive, 'top down' approach. This could not be sustained by the available revenue base. Within a few months, debts of over £1m were accumulated and the business went into administration on 2 January 2005.
Throughout 2005, attempts were made to get the railway company out of administration and allow it to resume services. However, this proved difficult because of various structural problems within the project.
One particular area of difficulty related to the construction in 2004 of a new running shed at the Wolsingham depot site. It was intended that the cost of this shed should be largely funded by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, but this grant never materialised. Further complications were that the shed had been partly built on property that did not belong to Weardale Railway Ltd and road access to the whole depot site was only available through a neighbouring factory site. This access was cut off after a dispute. It proved impossible to obtain the funding needed to get the company out of administration until these issues were resolved. However, the railway recently came out of administration and has resumed running services using its Class 37s.
[edit] Locomotives
- Diesel Locomotives
- BR Co-Co Class 20 no. 20107
- BR Co-Co Class 37/0 nos. 37003, 37175 and 37275
- BR Co-Co Class 37/4 no. 37414
- Diesel Multiple Units
- BR Class 141 units 141103 and 141110
[edit] Trivia
A 2006 Virgin Trains commercial featuring a train being attacked by Indians (Native Americans) on horseback was partly filmed on the Weardale line.
