Date: 23/05/2010

Daily passenger services have returned to a County Durham heritage railway line - almost 60 years after they were withdrawn.

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Scene at Bishop Auckland in 2007, now a terminus at the end of a single line section. Northern Rail provides services from here, running to Saltburn via Darlington and Middlesbrough. The overgrown line on the left is the old Crook and Wearhead line, with the former closed in 1965 from Wear Valley Junction and the latter now a preserved line in the hands of the Weardale Railway . The land once occupied by the large original station is now covered by roads, car parks and retail developments.
Location: Bishop Auckland
Company: Bishop Auckland and Weardale Railway
04/11/2007 John Furnevel

View east towards Bishop Auckland from the Eastgate platform at the restored Stanhope station in May 2006.
Location: Stanhope
Company: Wearhead Extension (North Eastern Railway)
08/05/2006 John Furnevel

The once important station and Junction at Bishop Auckland seen from the southeast in 1977. The photograph shows the lines to Durham curving off to platforms 2 & 3 on the right, with the covered platform 1, serving the Crook and Weardale lines, straight ahead beyond (and obscured by) the signal box. On the far side of the station the north to west platform 4 completed the triangle, although this was used mainly for the 3 Ps - parcels, pigeons and papers. By the time of this photograph the former hub in western County Durham had lost most of its services and become a candidate for major rationalisation. [See image 31091]
Location: Bishop Auckland
Company: Bishop Auckland and Weardale Railway
//1977 Ian Dinmore