THE US company running a heritage line is on track to end years of rail isolation for a dale’s residents by the summer.

Weardale, in County Durham, could be connected to the main line at Bishop Auckland by July if operator British American Rail Services (Bars) reaches agreement with railway authorities.

The company is also applying for a licence to run services on the national network in the name of Devon and Cornwall Railways.

Bars has already created jobs in the dale by setting up its UK headquarters at Stanhope Station, where it has ten employees for its national operations and the Weardale Railway.

When it bought a controlling interest in Weardale last autumn, it also acquired the Dartmoor Railway, in Devon, and track maintenance company RMS Locotec.

If it succeeds in running the line to Bishop Auckland, the area could benefit from an influx of thousands of visitors a year.

It would mean Weardale would have a direct connection with Locomotion: the National Rail Museum at Shildon, offering an attractive heritage package for tourists.

It would also mean that up to six charter trains a year could arrive from anywhere in the country, carrying visitors from all over the world.

Mark Westerfield, from Bars, is in Stanhope until the end of June negotiating with Network Rail and authorities such as the Office of Rail Regulation.

The company is looking towards income from freight operations – initially quarried stone and aggregates – to subsidise its heritage service and pay for track updates, which could ultimately allow regular passenger services back after 50 years.

Bars recently quoted research showing that up to four million tonnes of freight could be carried on the railway to Tyneside and Teesside.

A study by independent advisory group Steer Davies Gleave identified that a national connection could increase passenger journeys to 120,000 a year, six times more than at present.

Network Rail has already guaranteed that it will reinstate the Bishop Auckland link by July.

On May 13, David Keay, from the Railway Inspectorate, is due in Weardale for a make-or-break trip from Wolsingham to Bishop Auckland on the railway.

Mr Westerfield said: “That will be a real milestone for us.

It will make everything possible.

“It is all progress. There is a lot to do, but we are confident it will work.”

Locomotion manager George Muirhead said the museum had been in talks with Bars and volunteers from the Weardale Railway Trust about running trains between the two centres.

He said: “We think it is a very exciting prospect.”