Great Western Coffee Shop

Visitor numbers grow at 'world's oldest railway'

(https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/976/cpsprodpb/b542/live/10478ad0-3e17-11f1-84f5-7fc596316150.jpg.webp)
Tanfield railway is run by 170 volunteers and two paid staff - Image © Tanfield Railway

Heritage tourist attractions need to keep evolving to survive, the manager of what is believed to be the world's oldest railway has said.

Tanfield is a three-mile (5km) heritage wagonway dating back to 1725 which runs between Sunniside, Gateshead and East Tanfield in County Durham.

David Watchman said they "lost their way a bit" after the Covid epidemic but visitor numbers increased in 2024 and 2025. "We've been doing a lot of research and a more hands-on experience seems to be what visitors want," he said.

Tanfield railway once provided a link between the Durham coalfields to the Tyne and is run by 170 volunteers with two paid staff. The museum attracts about 30,000 visitors a year.

(https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/976/cpsprodpb/b455/live/65c25fc0-3e27-11f1-8ba5-cfdd8d3337ac.jpg.webp)
People will have the chance to drive industrial locomotives - Image © Tanfield Railway

"We lost our way a little bit around Covid but our visitor numbers went up 25% in 2024, and 5% in 2025 so we're definitely moving in the right direction now," Watchman said.

Tanfield already offers people the chance to pay to take the controls of one of its diesel trains but from the summer is adding driving a steam train to its visitor experiences.

"People don't want to be passive, they want to be able to feel, smell and touch," Watchman said. He is one of those trained to drive the engines used.

"It's such a feeling when you're on board and they're speaking to you, they've all got their own little personalities, they come alive," he said. "It's just out of this world, that feeling of being in control of this mechanical beast controlled by fire."