for passenger traffic. Once the works were completed it was intended to reinstate the tracks and extend the Stanhope to Witton-le-Wear passenger service back to Bishop Auckland West station. Since July 2018, two of the three daily return services between Stanhope and Witton-le-Wear now continue to Bishop Auckland West station. After receiving planning permission to load opencast coal, mined in the Crook area, alterations and arrangements were made to the Weardale Railway Depot at Wolsingham, to receive and transship the coal from road to rail. The first loaded coal train left Wolsingham on 16 June 2011 bound for steel works in Scunthorpe. Later, services were extended to include the power station at Ratcliffe On Soar, near Nottingham. This became a five-train-a-week operation that operated until 2 October 2013, and halted as a result of the financial collapse of UK Coal, following the spoil tip landslip that destroyed the connecting railway at Hatfield Colliery in February 2013, preventing coal shipments, and the underground fire at Daw Mill Colliery the following month which plunged UK Coal into financial crisis. Stations of the Weardale Railway Westgate-In-Weardale Station (Planned) Eastgate-In-Weardale Station (Planned) Stanhope Station Frosterley Station Kingfisher Leisure Park Halt Wolsingham Station Harperley Station (Currently Disused) Witton-le-Wear (Re-opened, Easter 2016) (Current Terminus) Wear Valley Junction (Currently Disused) Etherley (Currently Disused, the railway plans to re-open it as Witton Park) Bishop Auckland West Station (not in regular use 2012–2018; reopened during gala in April 2018 and regular services reintroduced in July 2018) Rolling stock Steam Locomotives N.C.B. 40, Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns (7765 of 1954). Under overhaul. Diesel Locomotives BR Class 31 no. 31190 (moved to Plym Valley Railway 2021 ) BR Class 31 no. 31285 (operational) BR Class 31 no. 31454 (now moved to Wensleydale Railway) BR Class 31 no. 31459 (operational) BR Class 31 no. 31465 (operational) Diesel Multiple Units BR Class 108 nos. 50980 + 52054 (operational) BR Class 122 no. E55012 (operational) Former residents Class 31 Nos. 31144 (spares), Class 31 31468 (spares) and 31602 (spares), Class 141 Nos. 141103 and 141110 (spares) have since been scrapped. Notes References External links The Weardale Railway project website The Weardale Railway Locomotive Preservation Group Iowa Pacific Holdings website Westgate station with links to articles on other Weardale stations Heritage railways in County Durham History of County Durham Stockton and Darlington Railway North Eastern Railway (UK) John Middleton railway stations