STAFF laid off by troubled private railway are working for nothing to help get the line back on track.

Nine of the 30 employees sent home when administrators took over the Weardale Railway, in County Durham, are giving up their time to help rescue the venture, which ran out of money at the end of last year.

As well as trying to secure their own futures by looking for jobs, they are turning up at the line's depot in Wolsingham up to four times a week, helping to keep the five miles of track to Stanhope clear in the hope that trains can run in the future.

Works manager Dave Briggs, one of only six employees kept on at the line, paid tribute to the dedication of the volunteers - track operatives Michael Kay and Darren Burn, their manager Alistair Bruce, storeman John Hewison, van driver John Yarker, safety officer Paul Foxton, prison co-ordinator Tony Galley, labourer Gordon Richardson and receptionist Denise Thompson.

He said: "They are totally committed to the railway. They have put so much work into it, they don't want to see it close.

"It means that the infrastructure is still in place for us to run again. Without them, we would have to shut down."

A spokesman for the 1,000-member Weardale Railway Trust said: "It's extraordinary that redundant workers have decided to carry on working on the project without pay.

"It shows how much faith they and a lot of people in Weardale have in the railway. If it goes ahead, they see it as one positive way of creating jobs, both in tourism and the railway itself."

The trust is planning a meeting to discuss ways of giving extra support, including a series of trains raising money to pay creditors.

The spokesman said: "It is paramount that this railway is not allowed to disappear. Despite the comments of some local sceptics, a large number of people in Weardale and beyond regard it as an imaginative and important player in the regeneration of the dale."