WERE you a passenger on the last scheduled passenger train to run through Weardale to Bishop Auckland almost 50 years ago?

Rail enthusiasts working to reopen the Weardale Railway line are appealing to the people on this photograph, taken at Wearhead station as the final service left at 6pm on Wednesday, June 27, 1953, to help them mark the anniversary of its closure.

Weardale Railway Trust archivist John Askwith has gathered photographs, maps and memories from 1953 for a touring exhibition, which will open in Bishop Auckland Town Hall on Monday, April 7, and run throughout the summer at centres around south Durham.

Trust members hope to run special trains to commemorate the anniversary and possibly re-enact the scene at Bishop Auckland station when the last train pulled out.

If you are on the photograph, or know any of the people pictured, you can contact Stanhope station on (01388) 526262.

The trust and its locomotive group are holding an open day at Wolsingham Steelworks on Sunday, from 10am to 4pm, when visitors can see rolling stock restored for the line and be given information about future plans.