Gifted locomotive Twizell the star of railway's gala

THE oldest working locomotive in Britain to be built by the famous Newcastle firm of Robert Stephenson has been gifted to a North East heritage railway.

- TONY HENDERSON

Twizell, built by the Stephenson locomotive works in 1891, has been on loan to the Tanfield Railway from Beamish Museum.

Now, the museum has handed over Twizell to Tanfield, along with a rare survivor locomotive from the North East steel industry.

Twizell has recently undergone a £100,000 overhaul at Tanfield and is in full working order. It was employed to haul coal trains for North East colliery owner James Joicey's pits in County Durham before being saved for preservation in the early 1970s.

To celebrate the ownership transfer, Twizell will be one of the locomotives starring in Tanfield's end of season gala this weekend - alongside the railway's other four operating steam locomotives and three diesel locomotives.