RAIL campaigners working to expand services in Wensleydale said this week that they did not see a forthcoming new attraction in a neighbouring area as a threat.

The prospect of six more stations, including one at Bedale in only a few weeks' time, and a long-awaited link with Northallerton, is being offered as a new share issue designed to raise £2.75m is launched.

Wensleydale Railway, which at the weekend celebrated 12 months of running limited passenger services between Leeming Bar and Leyburn, said funds raised from the shares would enable the company to build on its achievements so far.

Later this month the Weardale Railway, which will have steam engines running from the start, is due to be launched on part of a line previously used by trains carrying cement.

But chief executive Scott Handley, who hopes to see steam in Wensleydale by next year, thought the two attractions could complement each other.

"I don't see the Weardale Railway as a problem. We are aiming at different markets and we have the North York Moors Railway not far away."

He added: "By being responsive to the needs of the local community, we have been able to bring new jobs, help in the regeneration of the local area and bring back into use a wasted community resource, all for a fraction of the high costs we have become used to for railway projects."

Mr Handley said the five licences awarded by the rail regulator meant that the company was able to operate both trains and track, avoiding the split which many felt had led to undue complexity in the national rail industry.

He revealed that efforts were being made to attract freight, which would help to reduce the number of lorries using country roads, and that the company was considering making bids to operate other rural lines elsewhere in the country where its business model could be applied.

The Wensleydale line is already planning to extend westbound services to the existing terminus at Redmire from next month and hopes later this season to open a temporary halt on the branch just outside Northallerton until difficulties associated with access to the main line station can be overcome.

An original share offer before trains began running in July 2003 raised £1.2m, which helped Wensleydale Railway to develop the stations at Leeming Bar and Leyburn and bring back passengers to the line, leased from Network Rail for 99 years.

This week the company said money from the new share issue would help to bring longer, faster and more frequent trains, new stations and services over the entire 22-mile length of the existing line between Northallerton and Redmire.

Mr Handley confirmed that, during the coming season, the company was planning to open a temporary station in the Romanby area, with a bus link taking passengers to and from Northallerton station and the town.

Mr Handley revealed that improvements to the platform at Bedale were almost complete and it was expected that, subject to official clearance, trains would call there from the beginning of August.

Wensleydale Railway was working with Hambleton District Council and Yorkshire Forward on a scheme to rejuvenate Bedale station for railway, workshop and conference use, but Mr Handley said the existing platform could be used ahead of that development.

He added, however, that there were plans to lengthen the platform so that it could take more carriages and to raise it because it did not meet modern standards.

A new arrangement would have to be put in place at Redmire, to which trains should be running from the start of next month subject to clearance, because the former station building was privately occupied.

Other new or revived stations were envisaged at Finghall, Newton le Willows and Scruton, where Wensleydale Railway has been working with the community to reclaim the surviving buildings from dereliction.

But Mr Handley said more stops meant longer journeys and the development at Newton le Willows, where new building was needed, was closely tied to a phased increase in train speeds.

Additional trackwork had already been laid at various points between Leeming Bar and Leyburn to bring more flexibility to services, which are at present operated by privately-owned diesel multiple units but will also involve carriages hauled by diesel and ultimately steam locomotives.

Mr Handley said: "The tourism market brings in large numbers of people, but the reason we are here is to give good quality public transport with intermediate stations and a link to Northallerton.

"You cannot do everything in one day, but every time we bring in a new service or a new section of line, the community should see how useful it will be.

"The first share issue, before we had even started running trains, was a leap of faith. We showed that we could reopen the railway and the second issue is about building on what we have done so far."