A STEAM locomotive has come home to be restored in the town where it was built more than 80 years ago.

The North-Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group (NELPG) moved into its new premises in Darlington six months ago.

The first project it will undertake at the Hopetown Carriage Works is to restore a locomotive, below, which was built at the town's North Road works in 1918.

The engine, which was manoeuvred into its new home yesterday, was bought by NELPG in 1968 and ran on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway for about ten years.

It has sat idle in Grosmont for 20 years and was thought an appropriate first project for the group in Darlington.

Fred Ramshaw, of NELPG, said: "It needs a total overhaul - a complete rebuild down to the last nut, bolt and rivet - and we reckon it will take us about two years."

Mr Ramshaw said that the restoration would take place in two parts.

He said: "The locomotive has got to be rebuilt and then the boiler. That is pretty specialist because it is a pressure vessel."

When complete, the locomotive will run on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway again, and maybe elsewhere in the country during the winters.

The restoration will last ten years.

NELPG has spent the past six months working on the interior of its new building, but would like some help to restore the exterior.

Support has come from Jarvis Darlington, Railtrack, Darlington Borough Council and Darlington Railway Centre and Museum to get the project this far.

Mr Ramshaw said: "It is exciting because it is the end of six months' hard work getting the building right, also because NELPG has found a new base and that a locomotive that has sat for so many years is being rebuilt and restored."

The group is appealing for volunteers and is hoping to hear from anyone who may remember working on the original train.

Anyone interested can contact (01325) 382155.