When you work for a newspaper, there are plenty of days which are dominated by bad news.

But today is a day for good news - really good news. In fact, there have been two really good news days within a week.

First, we had the SSI deal, reigniting steel-making on Teesside. That was a great day.

Today is a great day too because the Hitachi train-building factory at Newton Aycliffe has got the go-ahead.

It means 500 new jobs directly, plus thousands more in the supply chain. County Durham and the wider region will benefit enormously.

And I'm delighted to say that The Northern Echo has played its full part in a campaign which pulled together the local community magnificently.

Politicians, unions, business leaders and the local paper came together to show the Government how much we wanted the £4.5bn deal to go-ahead.

Our job was to hammer home the message to the Government that we really wanted these jobs; to underline the impact it would have on this part of the world.

Our "Back On Track" campaign included a special campaign supplement, wrapped round the main paper. We don't do "wrap-rounds" very often - only when it's something extra-special.

David Cameron had told us - correctly - that there was a need to rebalance the regional economy because we were too reliant on the public sector.

This was his Government's opportunity to do some of that rebalancing and, to be absolutely fair, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond has done the business.

He deserves credit for pushing through the deal. So does Sedgefield Labour MP Phil Wilson for relentlessly driving the case for Newton Aycliffe.

There are lots of bad news days ahead but it's time to smell the roses - and welcome SSI and Hitachi.