AN exhibition celebrating the past and future of a single-track railway has opened to mark the arrival of trains on the line after a 49-year gap.

Schoolchildren and volunteers have helped to create the Wensleydale Railway exhibition at the Dales Countryside Museum, in Hawes, North Yorkshire.

The display opened less than 24 hours before the first public train since the 1960s ran along the reinstated track from Leeming Bar to Leyburn on Saturday.

As well as archive material about the Wensleydale Railway, the exhibition features artwork by the children from West Burton, Hawes and Bainbridge primary schools, relating to the history of the railway.

Fiona Rosher, museum manager, said: "The Dales Countryside Museum is hous-ed in the old railway station at Hawes, and so it is particularly meaningful that we are celebrating the reopening of the Wensleydale Railway with an exhibition that brings together old memories and new impressions."

The exhibition runs until Wednesday. The museum is open daily and admission is free.