A LONG-LOST part of the North-East's industrial heritage will be seen again next week - more than 160 years after it vanished.

The standard gauge steam locomotive will make its debut at the Beamish open air museum, near Stanley, County Durham, next Thursday.

The engine is a full-size working replica of the Steam Elephant, originally built in 1815 by William Chapman, of Newcastle, for Wallsend Colliery.

The locomotive also worked at Washington and Hetton collieries until the 1840s, when it disappeared without trace - until a picture was discovered in 1931.

Careful research by museum staff at Beamish led to five contemporary illustrations of the engine, including an oil painting from about 1820 - believed to be the first of a locomotive - and the original account book for the building of the engine.

Armed with these, a set of engineering drawings was produced and, in October 1999, the painstaking task of recreating the Elephant began.

Much of the construction was undertaken in the North-East, with final building elements and boiler testing taking place at Ross on Wye, Herefordshire.

Keeper of industry at Beamish, Jim Rees, said: "It was the most famous and successful of the era. It made its owners a lot of money and, because of that recognition, became an icon which appeared in books and prints."

He added: "Once we had made a full-scale model we had to get around just how it really worked. But, if built to the same shape, physics do not change in 160 years.

"We had to produce an 1815 engine that satisfied modern boiler safety codes."

After two-and-a-half years' work, and with testing completed and drivers trained, the Steam Elephant will be rolled out next Thursday, as the leading lady in a colourful period pageant on the museum's 1825 Pockerley Waggonway railway.