The right kind of private railway

BBC NEWS | England | North Yorkshire | Rail back in the Dales

Is this the first British example of a Swiss-style private railway?

Regular train services are returning to Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales for the first time in almost half a century.

Friday sees the opening of a new stretch of track, with full scheduled services starting on Saturday.

The railway could eventually link the east coast main line with the Settle-to-Carlisle Pennines route 40 miles away.

It is being operated by the Wensleydale Railway Company which has raised �1.2m to provide a commercial service in an area where busy country roads are the only alternative means of transport.

There are many privately-owned preserved lines, most of them run from nowhere to nowhere else, and don't attempt to run a regular local passenger service. Although the Wensleydale line plans to operate steam trains in the high summer, they are also going to run a regular service using refurbished ex-BR class 108 diesel railcars.

This deserves to succeed, and might be a pointer for rural railways in general. I can see routes like the Liskeard to Looe line, or some of the self-contained Thames Valley branches operating as independant lines, perhaps with a small fleet consisting of modern railcar or two operating day-to-day services and a refurbished older 'historic' vehicle as a backup.