A REPORT into a troubled North-East steam locomotive project has cost £18,000 - three times as much as the cost of putting the problems right, it was claimed last night.

Trustees behind the building of the first steam locomotive for more than 40 years published the report into the £1.7m project to silence critics.

But the report has cost more to compile than the deficiencies it highlighted, and delayed completion of the project by six months.

The trustees of the A1 Pacific Tornado, being built at Darlington's Hopetown engineering works, were rocked earlier this year when a group of dissatisfied enthusiasts claimed engineering errors had been made, which would cost up to £50,000 to repair.

In a letter to the trust's 1,500 financial backers, Keith Bottomley claimed that the Tornado would be unsafe unless remedial work was carried out, which led to the trust agreeing to commission an independent inspection.

This has been completed by Engineering Link, and the trust is confident that it will bring an end to the dispute.

Mark Allatt, chairman of the trust, said certain components were not exactly as they were in the drawing, but it was not serious.

"There are non-conformances on 176 out of 3,220 parts of the locomotive that need putting right, which we will do," he said.

"We hope this will be the end of it. The inspection report has cost over £18,000 - that is three times as much as the cost of putting things right.

"This has damaged us. New supporters may have thought twice about joining us and marketing initiatives have had to be put on hold, resulting in the loss of about £31,500 in potential income.

"Plus, it has added at least six months on to the project."

Mr Allatt said he was angry that anyone professing to have the interests of the project at heart would do so much to damage it.

In an attempt to avoid any problems in the future, the trust is proposing to recruit someone to keep a check on the quality of work on the Tornado.

It is also improving communication with its financial supporters by revamping its quarterly magazine and circulating the accounts.