I've been taking a break from routebuilding over the past few weeks due to work committments (and to recharge a bit - all that landscaping gets a bit tiring after a while!).
However, on 19th February I was fortunate enough to be booked onto the first mainline tour (from Kings Cross, no less) to travel up the Weardale branch since at least 1993 - the "Locomotion and the Weardale Railway" tour organised by UK Railtours. The tour was completely sold out, so I obviously wasn't the only one who felt this way. :)
Our train (mostly Mk1s where the heating worked, thankfully) was "topped and tailed" by DBS class 67s, led by 67029 "Royal Diamond" in EWS Executive livery:
Of course this was also a chance to revisit my hometown (even if very briefly - we didn't stop there) and visit the NRM at Shildon:
It was quite an experience to travel through Shildon Tunnel again. Quite breathtaking, in fact!
Once we reached Bishop Auckland we had quite some welcome, for at virtually every crossing on the route local people had turned out to wave to our 12 coach train. It was quite fantastic to see how glad people were to see the railway running again.
Although a rather long day, it was all worthwhile to be on the first tour to travel up to Weardale and to sample (albeit rather briefly) the hospitality of the Weardale Railway. I wish them well, and hope their plans for the long term development of the line bear fruit.
