A train full of paying passengers will roll into a Northumberland village station this weekend for the first time in more than 40 years.
Slaggyford in the South Tyne valley lost its rail link when the 13 mile Haltwhistle-Alston line was closed by British Rail.
The last train services ran on 1 May 1976 when 5,000 people turned out to ride the route.
But tomorrow and Sunday a heritage railway will run special steam-hauled trains to Slaggyford from its Alston base.
South Tynedale Railway has refurbished Slaggyford station, which has been repainted in its original Newcastle & Carlisle railway livery, and its platform has been reinstated.
A toilet block with solar panels has been built as well as a replica signalbox.
The opening of the route to Slaggyford will add 1.5 miles to the track from the current 3.5 miles from Alston to Lintley Halt.
Slaggyford Specials will run on Saturday and Sunday, leaving Alston at 10:45, 13:15, and 15:15.
Tickets must be purchased in advance through the website.
Return tickets for the historic journeys are £13 for adults and £5 for children up to age 15.
Travellers will receive a welcome drink on arrival at Slaggyford together with a souvenir fridge magnet to mark the occasion.
Railway chairman Richard Graham said, "This will be a historic weekend for the society, one of whose aims is to recreate a community railway linking Alston Moor, South Tynedale, and the wider North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) with the national railway network at Haltwhistle. Opening the extension to Slaggyford is the first step towards fulfilling this aim and I would like to thank the team of staff and volunteers who have worked really hard, overcoming numerous obstacles, to help us reach this milestone in the society's history. Slaggyford is an original station on the line and we anticipate an upsurge in passenger numbers this year."
From 12 Jun 2018 the new operating timetable will come into force and trains will run to Slaggyford via Kirkhaugh and Lintley on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, and daily in school holidays.
Passengers can also start their journey at Slaggyford.
Richard said, "The South Tyne Valley is a fantastic place to visit and it will be the first time since 1976 that the public will be able to experience the views from Lintley to Slaggyford from the window of a train."
The trains will be hauled by the locomotive "Barber" which was built in 1908.
She worked at Harrogate Gas Works and was named after the chairman of the company Francis Barber.
The locomotive fell into disuse in 1949, and in 1953 the North East Gas Board agreed to it being preserved if the Narrow Gauge Railway Society could find a home for it.
In 2004 "Barber" came to South Tynedale Railway where she was restored after an appeal to raise £100,000 and she came fully into service at the railway in May, 2015.
The opening of the line to Slaggyford represents completion of the final strand of a major £5.6 million development project which included a £4.3 million award from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
At Alston, the project has included a new station cafe and toilet block, a heritage engineering workshop with public viewing gallery, a discovery centre which tells the story of the line and the society, a second platform, and a new train shed roof.
The first train from Alston to Haltwhistle ran in November 1852 following the completion of the track over the spectacular Lambley viaduct.
Nine viaducts were needed to carry the railway over the South Tyne and its tributaries.
South Tynedale Railway Preservation Society, which became a registered charity in 1983, has its roots in a group formed in 1973 when plans to close the line surfaced.
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