A RAILWAY station at the centre of a North-East museum that will open tomorrow has undergone a £185,000 refurbishment.

The work at Shildon Station, in County Durham, will be ready in time for the opening of Locomotion: The National Railway Museum.

The partnership venture between Locomotion and Durham County Council is a spin-off from the museum project.

Museum manager George Muirhead said: "The council had money put aside for the refurbishment of the station, and the arrival of the museum was a catalyst that got it under way.''

The station users can now enjoy new shelters that reflect the style of Locomotion's 6,000sq ft centre, and new benches that have a modern railway theme the same as ones at the museum.

The public address system has been improved and landscaping is ongoing to tidy the area surrounding the station and the museum.

Signs have been put in to guide visitors around the site and fencing has been put up.

Security cameras belonging to the museum will also cover the station, in order to make passengers feel more secure as they wait for trains.

Museum manager George Muirhead said: "Over the years, the town has grown away from the station in a sense.

"In the darker nights before the refurbishment, it did feel quite isolated down there and we are hoping with the CCTV and the landscaping that people will feel more secure and start using the station more.

"Ideally, we would like as many of our visitors as possible to visit us by train. Maybe one day, passenger operators will increase the number of trains using the line.''

Mr Muirhead said the station would also be a destination for steam charters, which would perhaps give people from the south of the country, a chance to travel to the town on a steam engine and visit the museum.

Another ambition is that Locmotion will work hand-in-hand with The Weardale Railway and Darlington Railway Museum, so steam engines will once again run from Shildon up the dale.

Mr Muirhead said: "We all work very closely together and I think that one day we would all like to see the steam charters visit Darlington and Shildon and then travel up the dale."