A RAILWAY museum is celebrating the restoration of one of its finest engines.

The three-year restoration of the Harton Coal Company's Electric Locomotive E4 has cost £117,000 and been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Resource/Science Museum Prism Fund and the Siemens company.

Work on the restoration has been carried out by staff and volunteers at North Shields's Stephenson Museum.

Its completion was celebrated by Professor Richard Bailey, chairman of the Heritage Lottery Fund's committee for the North-East, who launched the locomotive into action for the first time in 20 years.

E4 was one of nine locomotives supplied by Siemens between 1907 and 1913 to the coal company, in South Shields, which operated collieries at Harton, St Hilda, Boldon, Whitburn and Westoe.

It was one of a near-identical pair of centre-cab Bo-Bo-type locomotives built in 1909, and remained in regular service until the 1950s, and on standby until 1982, when it was bought by the museum.

Last year, The Northern Echo launched its Treasuring Our Railway Heritage campaign, aimed at having the historical significance of the railways in the region recognised.