The Eden Valley Railway team at Warcop is hoping to soon have a fully working railway line running the few miles up to Sandford.

The team, which is made up entirely of volunteers, have worked tirelessly for years on the old track that originally ran straight through to Appleby where passengers could then transfer to go to Carlisle or Settle. 

The plan is to eventually have a full working line to Appleby again, but because the organisation relies solely on funding and donations from local companies, progress is slow. 

However the station at Warcop is fast becoming a “hot spot” for railway fanatics, which now boasts a shop, tea room and mini museum. There are currently no trains running for the public on the part of line that as been refurbished due to some damage at the railway bridge at Warcop, however this was due to be fixed by early spring.

Bob Sandland, an Eden Valley Railway trustee and managing director of the company, explains what visitors can expect to see on a trip to the station.

“We run a variety of trains that we keep on site, mainly diesel at the moment but we are currently in the process of preparing the site for steam locomotion as well.

“The stock we’ve got dates from the 1950s to 1960s and a lot of the carriages have wonderful horsehair padded seats which have been cleaned and refurbished for the public.”

“Ideally in say seven to ten years times we should almost definitely be offering a regular service, possibly a ‘park and ride’ into Appleby and then we will look at the feasibility of restoring the line back to Kirkby Stephen.”

The project has been criticised by some local people who live near the station who are unhappy with the amount of carriages and engines accumulating in the yard, however the team is adamant that they can restore and run most of the engines they have collected.

“We intend to build a cow shed towards the Kirkby Stephen end of the site and then we can start to progressively restore the two main south-east coast units and keep them in tip-top condition,” says Bob.  

The completion of the project will help to boost tourism in the local area which in turn will benefit local businesses and also offer an excellent public service for local people.