A BROTHER and sister are trying to trace a replica working model of a steam engine which their father built nearly four decades ago.

Peter Abel and Ann Nicholson, who are from Darlington, are hoping to find the whereabouts of the five-inch gauge Pacific class 4-6-2 loco which was lost following their father’s death in 1976. They believe the model was passed to a friend after his death.

They do not want the loco returned, but would be keen to know if it still exists.

Their father, James Abel, was a boilermaker at the Stooperdale North Road railway works and a keen model builder.

He constructed the loco, which was about 4ft long and had a green livery, sometime between 1969 and 1976, and gave it the nameplate “Peter Abel”

after his son.

The model was made from rough cast parts, which Mr Abel put together and steamed like a regular engine.

Mr Abel was a member of Hurworth Community Centre Model Engineers and Mrs Nicholson, who now lives in Gainford, County Durham, believes that when he became ill it was passed to a fellow member who lived in the Geneva Road area of Darlington.

She said: “We’ve been doing our family tree and people keep talking about father’s model engine and we’d like to see it again.

“We don’t want it back, we’d just like to have a look at it and, if possible, take some photographs.”

Anyone who has any information about the model is asked to call Mrs Nicholson on 01325-730556.