RAIL chiefs have axed a passenger service set up to serve rural communities because not enough people are using it.

The Weardale Railway, in County Durham, launched its community service between Stanhope and Bishop Auckland in May 2010 to help rural residents get to the town.

But the service ran its last train on Saturday due to a poor take up by passengers.

The railway will instead refocus its efforts on the heritage side of operations, including running a steam engine popular with tourists.

Ed Ellis, president of Weardale Railway, said: “Our surveys of passengers have clearly shown that passenger interest is overwhelmingly in a heritage-type service for leisure travellers.

“Very few passengers over the past 19 months of service have used the service for commuting.

“Accordingly, we plan to expand and improve our heritage railway services, catering specifically for the leisure and heritage market, utilising vintage locomotives – both steam and diesel – and heritage carriages.

“In addition, we are in the process of making a series of facility improvements, including a new platform at Bishop Auckland, improved access to connecting trains at Northern Rail’s Bishop Auckland station, a new track loop, and upgrades to the Stanhope station that will improve our passengers’ experience.”

Mr Ellis said the railway’s history makes it a perfect venue for heritage enthusiasts.

It is one of the last remaining parts of the Stockton and Darlington railway, often referred to as the first railway in the world.

Mr Ellis said the company will consider reinstating the community service schedule if a particular need is identified, and if financial support for a renewed service is available.

The railway has undergone a major transformation since British American Railway Services bought a 75 per cent stake in 2008, including the reinstatement of the line between Wolsingham, at the west end of Weardale, and Bishop Auckland 12 miles away.

The line is also now being used to transport coal mined at an opencast site five miles away and plans are afoot to link it to the Renewable Energy Village project ongoing in Eastgate, to the east of Stanhope.

Railway chiefs are also drawing up plans to turn the Grade II-listed gun-barrel shed, built in 1864 at the railway’s depot in Wolsingham, into an historical rail museum where people can watch the restoration of old engines.