TWO sister museums were celebrating yesterday after they won accolades in a national awards scheme.

The National Railway Museum (NRM) at York was honoured for its successful campaign to save the Flying Scotsman for the nation.

Its sister museum at Shildon, County Durham, which has been open for six months, won the permanent exhibition award at the Museums and Heritage Show, in London.

The York museum's award for best marketing campaign recognised the media operation mounted to prevent the Flying Scotsman from being sold abroad.

Museum head Andrew Scott said: "The marketing team unquestionably deserves this recognition for the fantastic media exposure the appeal gained, which amounted to approximately £8m-worth of coverage."

It is now almost a year since the Flying Scotsman arrived at the NRM and, following successful summer excursions last year, a new season of Ride the Legend trips will begin at the end of this month.

The Locomotion museum at Shildon was established to provide greater access to more than 70 vehicles in the national collection, which were at risk through outdoor storage at the NRM in York, or inaccessible to the public.

Judges were impressed by its close consultation with the community, its sustainability and its attraction to people of all ages.

Manager Gordon Muirhead said: "This award acknowledges the hard work that has gone into creating such a groundbreaking partnership venture as that which has been pioneered by the National Railway Museum and Sedgefield Borough Council.

"It is only six months since the official opening of the museum and already expectations have been exceeded, with Locomotion having welcomed over 125,000 visitors."

Locomotion has also been shortlisted for the UK's largest arts prize, the Gulbenkian Award, which will be announced on May 26.