Historic locomotives given permanent home

A picture of Twizell was presented during the handover

Two Victorian steam locomotives have been given a permanent home at a heritage railway in the north-east of England.

Twizell, built in 1891, is in full working order after a recent £100,000 overhaul at Tanfield Railway in Gateshead, where it had been on long-term loan from Beamish Museum in County Durham.

It has now been formally handed over alongside Malleable No. 5, which dates from 1873 but has not been operational for many years and will now be assessed for restoration.

Tanfield Railway Trust chairman Derek Smith said it was a "massive boost" for the railway in the year it celebrated its 300th birthday.

Twizell is thought to be the oldest working locomotive in Great Britain to be built by railway engineer Robert Stephenson's Newcastle firm.

It hauled coal trains for James Joicey's County Durham colliery empire, before being saved for preservation in the early 1970s.

Malleable No. 5 was built for the South Durham Steel and Iron Company in 1873 and so named because it worked at the company's Malleable Iron Works in Stockton-on-Tees.

Acquired by Beamish in the 1970s, it has not been operational for many years but, once at Tanfield, it will be fully assessed and cosmetically restored.

Tanfield Railway Trust chairman Derek Smith accepted Malleable's name plate from Beamish Museum director of transport Paul Jarman

Mr Smith said Malleable No. 5 filled a "major gap" in Tanfield's collection while Twizell had been a "much loved part of our operations" for several years.

"To secure them both is a massive boost, but to do so in the year we celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Tanfield Railway is really special," he said.

Beamish Museum's director of transport, industry and design, Paul Jarman, said: "Both Twizell and Malleable have secure futures with the Tanfield Railway.

"Working in partnership with those who have common goals only serves to enrich our heritage and ensure that it can be enjoyed, educating and retaining those established links to our past that we know are so important to the region."