Three decades ago, a dozen enthusiasts moved on to an old colliery site, with a vague idea of using it to store their growing collection of North-East steam engines.

Today, it boasts a healthy membership and is visited by tens of thousands of people a year. Dan Jenkins reports on how the Tanfield Railway has quitely grown into a significant visitor attraction

Richard Charlton was just a boy when he joined other steam enthusiasts on his first trip by rail to the Marley Hill Colliery, near Stanley.

He later joined a group of individuals buying up and saving whatever pieces of North-East steam history they could find.

They harboured a dream of owning a small site where they could keep them in working order.

Marley Hill had a former National Coal Board (NCB) engine shed in good condition, that the Beamish Museum had been using for storage.

The group acquired it in 1972 and the foundations of the Tanfield Railway were laid.

Over the next 30 years, a steadily growing band of volunteers laid more than three miles of track by hand, erected new stations and even rebuilt a bridge.

Today, it belongs to the Tyneside Locomotive Museum Trust, and Dr Charlton is its former chairman.

Dr Charlton, 43, a lecturer at Newcastle University, said: "It evolved out of an interest in repairing old machinery.

"It started out as a hobby, but now I do see us as having some sort of responsibility for preserving and protecting our heritage for posterity."

The last works train ran at East Tanfield Colliery in 1959 and Tanfield Lea Colliery closed in 1962.

When the group first arrived, its aim was to have somewhere to store its growing collection.

"It just happened there was a short section of line, no more than a couple of hundred yards," said Dr Charlton. "It all started from there."

They picked up more track from a variety of sources, including the old Patons and Baldwins mill, in Darlington.

Within two years, regular steam engine demonstrations were taking place. The first run with a carriage for passengers took place in August 1975, to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.

The trust faced its biggest challenge when, in the late 1980s, it decided to extend the line to Causey and East Tanfield.

For most groups of enthusiasts, laying two miles of track and building three railway stations would have been a big project but they also faced rebuilding a bridge.

British Rail had destroyed the Gibraltar Bridge in 1973. "They blew it up without telling anyone," said Dr Charlton. "Fortunately, there wasn't a huge amount of damage done, but it was still quite a complicated job for a group of amateurs. It was back-breaking work."

The bridge was finished by 1987 and the first train to Causey Arch left Marley Hill in 1991. The East Tanfield extension opened a year later.

Steam trains still run past the heritage site and the scenery has proved a boon for the trust in attracting visitors. It has engines operating every Sunday, with Santa Specials on the line in the run-up to Christmas.

"We never have any problem filling them," said Dr Charlton. "We are running 90 Santa trains this year and they are all fully booked."

Its success has attracted the attention of major grant-making bodies and last month, a new £120,000 engine shed was opened on the site.

It was partly paid for by members, with the rest coming from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Northern Rock Foundation.

The trust is now working on a second bid, to create a permanent museum at East Tanfield.

The Tanfield Railway Association has 700 members and the gang who started it all remain involved.

"The first engine that we ever ran was a Stagshaw," said Dr Charlton. "It stayed outside for an awful long time and we got it running again in the late 1990s.

"We had taken a picture to mark the first occasion in the 1970s and we decided to recreate it. It felt strange, but it still had all the same people on."

The association also has a youth section, with about a dozen members.

"We are not getting any younger and we can't hump around huge pieces of iron any more," said Dr Charlton.

"We have a steady core of youngsters coming through and it is very rewarding to see."

For details, call the railway on 0191-388 7545, or visit www.tanfield-railway.co.uk