RAIL enthusiasts built up a head of steam over the busy Bank Holiday weekend recreating a golden age in passenger travel.

The good weather attracted the crowds to the Tanfield Railway and visitors were treated to rides on coaches pulled by the No 49, a 50-year-old six-coupled engine which hauled coal at Backworth Colliery, Northumberland, during its working life, and by the 1953-built Cecil A Cochrane, named after a director of the former Dunston Gasworks in Gateshead, where it previously worked.

Around 25 volunteers have lovingly restored steam engines either built in the North-East, or which previously worked in the region, over the last 30 years. They have developed a small section of line, creating a four-station loop.

Enthusiasts hope to eventually open a small railway museum to display a large collection of railway relics, at one of the quartet of stations, East Tanfield.

The Tanfield Railway stages steaming days every Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday, from 11am to 4.15pm, and on Wednesdays and Thursdays throughout the school six-week summer holiday.

Admission is free, but ride tickets cost £5 for adults, £3.50 for senior citizens and £2.50 for children. There is also a family pass.

Telephone (0191) 388 7545 for more details.