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50 years on, Wensleydale residents recreate a special train's journey into the history books
APRIL 24, 1954, was a dark day for communities in the Dales.
Families and farm workers stopped to watch as a train passed, its carriages hung with black drapes and a laurel wreath on the engine.
Julie Hemmings
But the train was not on its way to a funeral - just into the history books as the last through passenger train between Northallerton and Garsdale.
Exactly half a century later, some of the passengers returned to enjoy a trip back in time on the revitalised Wensleydale Railway.
The railway, which re-opened to passengers between Leeming Bar and Leyburn last July, marked the 50th anniversary with a special service.
By a quirk of the calendar, the anniversary, 50 years to the day, fell on a Saturday, like that dark day in 1954 - but in 2004 the mood and the weather were anything but miserable.
The Harriers Jubilee Jazz Band from Northallerton had toes tapping on the...