STEAM enthusiasts can get on board some rare rail treasures when a North-East museum launches its events programme weekend.

Visitors to a Cab It! event at Locomotion: The National Railway Museum at Shildon, County Durham, will be able to get on the footplates of the fireless locomotive No 2373 Imperial No 1, Green Arrow and North Eastern Railway No 910.

Museum staff and volunteers will guide visitors through the controls, give them an insight into the life of a train driver and answer questions.

They can also take a steam ride on the Furness Railway No 20, which was built in 1863 and is the UK’s oldest working standard gauge locomotive.

Fireless locomotives were designed to be used in industrial situations where there was a risk of fire. They are unable to produce steam, but are fitted with a tank which is charged from an external source.

Another example of the design is the fireless steam locomotive No 2373 Imperial No 1, which was used at the Gravesend Works of the Imperial Paper Mills Ltd.

Cab It! is on Saturday and Sunday, from 10am to 4pm.

Admission and parking are free, but adults will be charged £1.60 to ride the Furness No 1.

Children and pensioners pay 80p and under-fives ride free.