In the North East, this summer, through ticketing has been introduced for the Weardale Heritage Railway, giving you an opportunity to continue your journey along the heritage railway.

This is currently only for stations on the direct line between Saltburn and Bishop Auckland, with passengers needing to interchange at Bishop Auckland.

You can choose between any of the five stations located along the Weardale Railway route, Stanhope, Frosterley, Kingfisher Halt, Wolsingham or Witton-le-Wear.

The remaining dates for this year will include:
• July 5th,11th, 18th and 25th
• August 2nd, 15th, 30th and 31st
• September 6th

Weardale Services can be found here.

Tickets are available through Ticket offices, Ticket Vending Machines and on board, but will not be retailed online.

Tickets will includes a 10% discount compared to buying products separately and all railcard discounts are accepted.

Sara Pascoe has launched a new campaign encouraging families to turn their train journeys into reading time this summer.

The comedian and host of the Weirdos Book Club podcast, a book review podcast now in its fifth season, kicked off the Summer Reading Challenge campaign with four train operating companies on the 9th July by treating schoolchildren to pop-up reading sessions on trains travelling between London, York and Leeds.

What is the Summer Reading Challenge?

1 in 4 children cannot read well by the age of 11. This hugely limits their life choices and skills. The Reading Agency are on a mission to change this.

The Summer Reading Challenge encourages children to keep reading during the summer holidays, ensuring they are ready for a great start to the new term in the autumn. Children set a reading goal and collect rewards for reading anything they enjoy. Children can sign up at their local library online, or while they travel by train! and it’s FREE to take part.

Train operating companies – LNER, Northern, Southeastern and TransPennine Express – have teamed up with The Reading Agency to provide the summer reading challenge packs to children travelling on their trains throughout the summer holidays.

Colleagues working for the four train operating companies are now planning to hand out tens of thousands of free Summer Reading Challenge activity packs to families over the coming months. Each one contains a copy of Storytime Magazine, sticker booklet, activity sheet, certificate and other fun resources to inspire children aged 4–11 to read more outside of the classroom.

The activity packs will be available on board hundreds of participating services and stations, from Edinburgh to Margate and from Newcastle to London, making it easy for children to get involved wherever their journey begins.

Find out more about the how to take part in the Summer Reading Challenge while travelling by train.

The Bishop Line Community Rail Partnership has been recognised in a review of the Rail 200 celebrations. published by Network Rail and the Railway 200 team, and introduced by Lady Victoria Borwick, Chair of VisitEngland Advisory Board.

Railway 200: A Commemorative Review, recognises the incredible work of the organisations, partners, volunteers and enthusiasts who made Railway 200 unforgettable.

The Partnership was featured in the Culture Spotlight, which outlined the wonderful Storylines Project led by Sam Slatcher of Citizen Songwriters.

The review also includes many mentions of the exciting events the S&DR200 festival, experienced up and down the route of the Stockton & Darlington Railway. It included the anniversary weekend which many people enjoyed at Locomotion, Hopetown Darlington, Preston Park and Stockton High Street and highlights the investment in our wonderful attraction – Hopetown Darlington.

Felicity Machnicki, Officer for the Bishop Line Community Rail Partnership commented “It is an honour for our partnership to be included in this fantastic commemoration of the Railway200 celebration year. The review shows just how much was delivered across the country by organisations large and small, to make the celebration of the 200th anniversary of rail travel something which the whole nation was part of.”

She added, “We’re extremely proud that the Storylines project has been recognised as a cultural stand out within this commemorative review. It was such an honour working with Sam Slatcher over the few years which it took to plan, execute and promote the project and its beautiful creative outputs. The project gained huge recognition during the anniversary year and we hope that, with the mention in this review, many more people will be aware of the project and its impact, and will choose to visit the line for themselves to experience the line that gave birth to the modern railway, changing how the world traded, travelled and communicated.”

Bishop Line CRP has joined forces with neighbouring community rail partners and train operating companies, at York Station (Wednesday 3 June) to celebrate Community Rail Week and highlight the vital role rail plays in supporting towns, cities and communities across the country.

Community Rail Week showcases the significant contribution of Community Rail Partnerships in helping local railways thrive. They work to improve connectivity, promote inclusivity, and deliver economic and social value to the communities they serve.

The partnerships bring together rail operators, local councils, community groups and rail users, who share a common goal of promoting the benefits of rail. Their work includes supporting station improvements, promoting tourism, and rail as a sustainable form of travel.

Representatives from the Bishop Line, Esk Valley Line and Yorkshire Coast Community Rail Partnerships joined LNER and TransPennine Express colleagues at York Station, to meet customers, share information about local initiatives, and encourage greater use of rail services.

Jake Orros, Community Partnerships Manager at LNER, said: “Community Rail Week is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the partnerships, who work hard to make sure that the railway delivers real benefits for local communities. Many rely on dedicated volunteers, who give their time and expertise to promote the railway and all it brings to communities. LNER is proud to support their important work.”

Felicity Machnicki, Officer for the Bishop Line Community Rail Partnership commented” It’s been wonderful to collaborate with our local community rail partnerships and stakeholders to showcase the impact which the community rail movement delivers locally and the work which the network supports right across the country. Although our three CRPs operate independently of each other, we are of course connected by the rail network, which is integral for enabling journeys whether long or short, for work, training or leisure. Opportunities like today, enable us to demonstrate that when we work together, we deliver something far greater than sum of our parts.”

Find out more about what’s been happening across the country to support Community Rail Week on the Community Rail Network Website. 

Bishop Line Community Rail Partnership projects have been recognised at the national Community Rail Awards for their engagement with the local community and celebration of the 200^th anniversary of the Railways.

Bishop Line CRP had three shortlisted projects, Bishop Line Secondary Schools Rail Safety and Careers Event 2025, Write on Track and Storylines.

The partnership was pleased to secure 2^nd place in the Involving Young People Award, sponsored by LNER for the 2025 secondary schools event.

Bishop Line Secondary Schools Rail Safety & Careers Event 2025 was designed in response to an increase in youth trespass incidents around Darlington, Shildon and Newton Aycliffe during the school holidays. Bishop Line CRP engaged representatives from across the rail industry to design and deliver a two-day event aimed at improving awareness of rail safety and careers amongst young people. A post-event survey revealed that 97% of students said they had a better understanding of how to keep themselves safe around the railway, and 93% said they were more aware of the different training and career opportunities available across rail.

Rob McDonald, Vice Chair of the Bishop Line CRP commented “It was great to attend the Community Rail Awards. The enthusiasm and quality of the award winners is of a very high standard, so it was fantastic that three Bishop Line projects were recognised in the shortlists and our Rail Safety & Careers Event came second in a highly competitive category.”

Felicity Machnicki, Officer for the Bishop Line CRP added “This year’s Community Rail Awards event was bigger than ever with 600 attendees and 300 entries. It was wonderful to celebrate our three shortlisted projects and be joined by Sam Slatcher, producer of the Storylines Project and Ann Cuthbert co-producer of the Write on Track project with Pam Plumb. Celebrating the projects with the partners who make them happen is such a privilege and enables us to acknowledge the success of our collaboration in such an exciting and inspiring setting.”

More about the shortlisted projects:

Storylines was designed to raise awareness of the upcoming Stockton & Darlington 200th Anniversary Celebration; which would become the launch event for the Railway 200 campaign, amongst the local community, the wider region and beyond. Led by Sam Slatcher, local artists gathered memories and stories from rail passenger while travelling on the Bishop Line and wider historic S&DR route. Those memories were translated to artforms such as poetry, songs, illustrations and a play. Over the following 2 years the creative outputs from the project have been shared at many live events across the country, from local community events to national launches and celebrations, and viewed online. The stories, memories and voices from the communities along the S&DR and the beautiful interpretation of those memories as songs, poetry and illustrations now live on through celebratory films, posters, music, poetry and an album which will continue to inspire others long into the future, to remember and celebrate how the journey on the 27th September 1825 changed the world forever.

Write on Track started as a creative writing competition concept, but through partnership working and generous idea sharing, it grew into an impactful creative project celebrating the skills and creativity of local people along the Stockton & Darlington Railway. Over a few months 12 workshops were delivered in inspiring railway settings and on trains, resulting in around 100 entries into the competition categories of poetry, short story and memoir. All entries have been celebrated in one form or another. Winning entries are published in an anthology available online and to purchase in paperback, selected pieces have performed at live events at venues along the line and runners up entries are displayed at stations along the Bishop Line ensuring that all participants can see their work celebrated in print.

Further details of all the winners can be found at communityrail.org.uk/hall-of-fame/2026.

The Bishop Line Community Rail Partnership is celebrating being shortlisted  for a number of projects in the 2026 Community Rail Awards.

In partnership with local groups, the Partnership has had three of its latest projects shortlisted in the upcoming awards:

Bishop Line Rail Safety & Careers Event 2025 – Category 1. Involving Children and Young People sponsored by LNER

Write on Track – Category 3. Community Creative Projects and Station Arts sponsored by Avanti West Coast

Storylines – Category 13. Railway 200 Legacy Award supported by Railway 200

Being shortlisted for one project is fantastic but being shortlisted for three is amazing recognition for the broad range of projects this partnership delivers in collaboration with its community and industry partners.

Winners will be announced during the awards evening on 19 March 2026.

You can find out more about the other amazing shortlisted entries on the Community Rail Network website. 

Bishop Line Community Rail Partnership has brought together many of its rail industry stakeholders to host the 2026 Rail Safety and Careers.

Over 120 students from secondary schools along the Bishop Line attended the event at Locomotion on the 3^rd & 4^th February.

Students joined the event from St Aiden’s Church of England Academy in Darlington, Greenfield & Woodham Academies in Newton Aycliffe and St John’s School and Sixth Form in Bishop Auckland. They attended four workshops which would prepare them for safe independent travel, navigating the next step in their education journey and introduce a potential career in rail. Led by rail industry professionals they engaged in interactive sessions covering rail safety with virtual reality headsets, understanding their personality types and roles to suit, potential rail careers, looking after their mental well-being and understanding the impact of anti-social behaviour.

Each student was able to speak with industry professionals about what their role involves and their individual career path, from apprenticeships, to degrees, to on-the-job training, giving real life examples which they could relate to. They had the opportunity to speak to a range of roles such as Drivers, Travel Safe Officers and British Transport Police Officers, as well as those behind the scenes in roles like Engineering, Planning, Policy, Safety, Strategy, Stakeholder Management, Sustainability and Train Performance.

They also met representatives from local colleges who explained the relevant courses to access roles in the rail industry.

Felicity Machnicki, Bishop Line Community Rail Partnership Officer said,

“It was wonderful to host another fantastic Rail Safety and Careers at Locomotion. Last year’s event has been shortlisted for a national Community Rail Award and we’re proud to say that this event was even better than in 2025. The museum was buzzing throughout the 2 days with students moving between the activities. It was great to see the students experience the impact of trespassing through Network Rail’s Virtual Reality (VR) headsets to see what it could look like to be on a railway while a train is coming. Our Rail Education Officer regularly visits schools along the Bishop Line to deliver rail safety sessions, and this session embeds an even greater understanding of the risks of trespass and the consequences of making certain decisions. The VR experience will certainly have put off anyone even thinking of taking risks on the railway”

She added,

“The students were really engaged in their conversations with our colleagues from across the rail industry. Feedback from colleagues was great.  They were delighted to talk to students about potential future fuel types for rail, the huge diversity of roles in rail and local opportunities, which they know are so important for so many young people. The Bishop Line Community Rail Partnership is so proud of our relationships with our industry partners and we couldn’t run an event like this without their support, both in planning the event and delivery on the two days, so thank you to all our partners who supported the event.”

Partners include A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, Bishop Auckland College, British Transport Police, CAF Rail, Community Rail Lancashire, CrossCountry, Darlington Borough Council Travel Advisors, Darlington College, Locomotion, LNER, Mott MacDonald, Network Rail, Northern, North East Combined Authority, the Railway Children charity, Samaritans, Shildon Station Adopters, TransPennine Express and Tyne Valley Community Rail Partnership.

On the 14^th of December the new Northern timetable will bring benefits to Bishop line passengers. Trains will run from earlier in the morning and finish later in the evening meaning there will be an extra service each day all through the week.

The changes are positive but frequent passengers are advised to check their journey plans in advance.

The timetable changes mean that from December, trains will run approximately half an hour later than they did on the May timetable, so if you are used to catching the 08:27 from Bishop Auckland to get you into Darlington before 9 for school, college or work, that will now be the 08:53 which will arrive in Darlington at 09:19, so you’ll need to catch the 07:51 to get you into Darlington before 9am.

All services will continue through to Saltburn.

Felicity Machnicki, Officer for the Bishop Line Community Rail Partnership comments “It’s great to see an improved service between Bishop Auckland and Darlington allowing better connections locally and to the wider rail network. Most importantly, this is a great opportunity to try travelling by train on the Bishop Line for all sorts of trips, whether it’s to work or college, for shopping trips or for an evening out.”

From December, the first train from Bishop Auckland to Darlington, Monday to Saturday, will leave at 06:49 arriving at Darlington at 07:16, this is around 40 minutes earlier than the first train on the May timetable. The first train from Darlington to Bishop Auckland will leave at 06:17, this is around half an hour earlier than in the old timetable.

From December, the last train from Bishop Auckland to Darlington will now leave at 21:53 arriving at Darlington at 22:19, around 25 mins later than on the May timetable. The last train from Darlington to Bishop Auckland will now leave at 21:23 arriving at Bishop Auckland at 21:48, almost half an hour later than on the old timetable. This means passengers can enjoy a little more time on their evenings out, to perhaps enjoy an extra scoop of ice-cream!

For those commuting to London, from December, passengers will be able to connect from Bishop Auckland to London King’s Cross earlier than they could on the old timetable. The early train will leave Bishop Auckland at 06:49, passengers can change at Darlington onto the 07:35, arriving at Kings Cross at 10:03. On the old timetable, the earliest connection from Bishop Auckland to King’s Cross was 07:27 connecting at Darlington at 08:08, arriving at Kings Cross at 10:39.

The journey home will also be better for those working in London, passengers will be able to catch the 18:33 from King’s Cross which arrives at Darlington at 21:05, then travel on to Bishop Auckland on the 21:23 arriving at 21:48.

Please check your arrival time when planning your journey.  You can use the Northern app or visit the Northern website to check your specific train times. https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/

Bishop Line CRP is currently collaborating with 2 local organisations to make small steps to help tackle the issue of suicide in our area, one of those organisations is Darlington Mind.

The partnership helped Darlington Mind to secure funding from the CommunityRail Network and CrossCountry to create a Rail Themed Mental Health Trail which would be situated in Darlington town centre during Mental Health Awareness Week 2025 with the support of Darlington Borough Council events team.

Darlington Mind engaged with local groups and artists to design and decorate 25 2D wooden cutouts of trains which a relevant to Darlington’s heritage –  Locomotion No 1, Derwent, Tornado, Mallard, Prince of Wales, there were 5 of each train. Each of the trains were decorated in a design which related to one of the mental health 5 ways to wellbeing – Connect, Take notice, Learn, Give and Be active.

They then created a mindfulness trail around Darlington town centre during Mental Health Awareness Week in May 2025, based on the S&DR200 theme, featuring the decorated trains.

The decorated trains were located in indoor locations with an explanation board beside each train featuring the project overview and a link to find out more about Mind, and the 5 ways to wellbeing.

The text alongside each train drew together information about the locomotive, the five ways to wellbeing and the artists inspiration to present an appealing and informative trail to promote both better Mental Health and S&DR200.

Now the trail has closed the trains are being weather proofed and they will be relocated to various locations throughout the year, along with their boards. We hope the first location will be Hopetown Darlington,  followed by Locomotion, and then along the S&DR walking & cycling trail when it opens, and potentially at stations, so the messaging will live for the whole year and possibly longer.

So look out for them!

Bishop Line CRP is currently collaborating with 2 local organisations to make small steps to help tackle the issue of suicide in our area, one of those organisations is ManHealth.

ManHealth run support groups for men in and around County Durham and the North East of England. They also organise walks to encourage their men to meet up away from the group to help build community and friendship.

With support from the Community Rail Network and CrossCountry, the partnership is helping to fund a series of monthly walks starting and finishing at Bishop Line Stations. The project aims to engage with men of any age, living or working in Bishop Auckland, Shildon, Newton Aycliffe and Darlington throughout 2025 and up to the end March 2026.

To date walks have been delivered in Bishop Auckland, Newton Aycliffe, Darlington and Shildon.

Look out for details of the next walk on the ManHealth Facebook page.