The UK's incredible oldest steam train line - 300 years old but battling to survive

All aboard for a trip back in time on the world’s oldest railway, celebrating its 300th anniversary in a quiet and beautiful corner of North East England. Dating back to 1725, a whole century before the famous Stockton and Darlington Railway, Tanfield in County Durham has an unrivalled history.

Now, thanks to its small army of train-mad volunteers, visitors to Tanfield Railway can ride the rails once again through six miles of stunning countryside.

This weekend, it is holding a 300th anniversary party open to the public with steam train rides and guided tours including Causey Arch, the oldest single span railway bridge in the world built between 1725 and 1727. There will also be colliery brass bands and miners’ flag processions.

The coal connection is important – this was no passenger line. The Tanfield line was originally built to transport coal from collieries in the area to the River Tyne for shipment to London and beyond using the latest technology and groundbreaking engineering of the day.

That involved wooden wagons on wooden rails pulled by horses, a hundred years before iron rails and steam.

Today the railway, rebuilt by its dedicated volunteers, is a showcase for the area’s rich railway heritage. What so easily could have been a forgotten relic has instead become a thriving monument to the region’s industrial past and a showcase of the industrial impact that the North East once had on the world.

A new BBC documentary made by award-winning Chalk Productions explores the railway’s history and talks to its young and not so young volunteers about their steam train obsessions.

It reveals how Tanfield Railway is more than just a relic of the past – it’s a labour of love. Every clanking carriage, every polished locomotive and every stretch of gleaming track is a testament to the dedication of its volunteers.

These are people who don’t just preserve history, they bring it to life.

Tom Hartley, now in his 30s, has been a volunteer since 2004. “My parents brought me here when I was a little boy to go on one of the North Polar Express train and something about it captured my imagination – it’s been trains constantly ever since,” he says.

“I was 13 years old when I started here as a volunteer and I’m still here 20 years later. In fact I got married in the engine shed. I don’t know how I got away with that!”

When Tom was 19, he and three other volunteers bought their own engine to renovate because “it was always the dream. Who doesn’t want a steam engine?”

They bought National Coal Board No. 38 from another older volunteer Peter Weightman, 75, for £1, so 25p each.

Since then they have put in thousands of man hours and thousands of pounds restoring it and are hoping to have it running again within the next three years.

“It costs an enormous amount of time and money and there is a lot of trial and error but also a lot of satisfaction,” Tom says.

Peter adds: “I wanted it to be restored and realised that might not happen in my lifetime if I didn’t pass it on to the younger generation. Hopefully this way I will have the pleasure of seeing it steaming along again.

“I got involved in 1970-71 because I wanted there to be steam preservation in the North East. It was frightening to see so many lovely machines that were getting scrapped in the 1960s and that was my motivation really. Somebody had to do it before we lost our history, our local history.

“It has taken a lifetime to do it all but I have confidence knowing that the next generation is going to repair it and get it working.” Tom is relying on Peter’s knowledge to help him get it working again.

“Peter had enormous foresight and has saved around 10 to 15 engines, plus carriages and wagons,” he says. “Nothing about steam trains is simple and the tricks of the trade aren’t written down, they aren’t available on the internet, so we are only able to do it with Peter. The only way we are going to be able to keep doing this is to learn from those before us and pass it on. I hope when I am Peter’s age there is a generation behind me who wants to learn how to do this.”om, who works full-time as an instructor teaching new drivers on the Tyne and Wear Metro, admits it isn’t always easy to find time for his passion.

“We have all got lives. I probably spend about a day-and-a-half every week volunteering at Tanfield but there is life beyond trains, although don’t quote me on that!”

Sophie Martin, 30, is another volunteer of Tom’s age, who like him, fell in love with steam as a child. She has qualified as a
fireman but as the only female in such a role at Tanfield. She would love to see more women getting involved.

“I think ‘the fireman’ is the most fun job you can have operating a steam train,” she says. “You are responsible for two things, fire and water. I think people misconceive it as putting out fires but it is the exact opposite, you are making fires.”

Sophie’s dad was an electrical engineer who built a model railway in the Midlands so she grew up around engines. But it was a visit to the National Railway Museum in York, aged eight, and standing on the footplate of the Mallard that inspired her to want to become a fireman.

“I was handed a shovel and I knew from that moment what I wanted to do,” she beams. “I am currently the only female fireman up here and I recognised as a teenager it wasn’t the standard thing for girls to like trains and I took a step back from it.

“But now I have completely re-embraced it and I am proud to say I love steam trains and I would absolutely love for more females to get involved.”

Sophie celebrated her 30th birthday with a tea party in a carriage with her railway family. A manager for Amazon and an Army reservist too, she still manages to find time for Tanfield. It helps that her husband-to-be, David Allinson, is a volunteer train driver and inspector on the railway, sharing her
passion for steam.

“It is a male dominated world but I have achieved what I have here on my own merit and I would urge other girls interested in trains to do the same,” she says. “You don’t have to have come from a railway background or be a man to enjoy steam trains.”

Tom adds: “Not all heritage railways have so many young volunteers or women as we do at Tanfield and I think that’s pretty special to us. We want different kinds of people from all walks of life to volunteer.

“It is nice to see different people enjoying steam trains, not just the stereotypical train enthusiast like me.”

Some 170 people volunteer at Tanfield and there are also three full-time members of staff including general manager David Watchman.

He has been responsible for co-ordinating a number of events for Tanfield’s 300th anniversary year, which are essential for raising funds towards the £500,000 minimum needed each year to keep it going.

“I am really proud of our railway, we have a fantastic bunch of volunteers,” he says.

“Everyone has their own skill set. It is all about the people and we have volunteers aged 12 through to 92. The railway wouldn’t exist without them.

“In the past 50 years we have restored three miles of track, restored numerous engines and carriages, built stations and all the infrastructure, so much has been achieved.

“I have been around railways since the age of seven. I have grown up with them. I have made lots of memories, made lots of friends and learnt lots of new skills. It is the place I call home really.”

David’s father Colin was a volunteer guard at the railway but in 2021 he suffered a fatal heart attack at East Tanfield Station, the
railway’s southern terminus.

For a while David found it difficult to be at the railway but says he is creating new memories at Tanfield with his son Rory, three, born after Colin died.

“Rory didn’t really have any choice when it came to liking trains but like so many of the volunteers here he is growing up with them,” David smiles.

“He recognises the different engines now and basically likes anything that moves and makes a noise.”

Like Tom, and David and Sophie, it looks like trains may end up being Rory’s story too.

“It is the sights, the sounds, the smells...and what your parents take you to when you’re younger,” Tom enthuses. “It could have been classic cars I suppose but I am called Thomas so it was meant to be.”

• For more information visit railway200.co.uk. The World’s Oldest Railway (part of the Our Lives series) airs on BBC Two tomorrow at 7pm and on BBC iPlayer. For details about the 300th anniversary and full programme of events, visit
  tanfield-railway.co.uk