Darlington - Legal row over steam loco project

The move comes amid signs of deepening hostilities between the trust and a disaffected group of supporters, over the quality of work carried out on the A1 Pacific Tornado.

It follows the threat of an injunction to halt work on the locomotive at the Hopetown Works, in Darlington, until an independent inspection has been carried out.

A letter was sent to the project's 1,500 covenantors - who make regular financial contributions - claiming that there were serious faults in the locomotive's construction.

The trust board has reported the issue to the Data Protection Registrar, amid claims that the names and addresses of covenantors were obtained without authority.

Chairman Mark Allatt accused the rebels of trying to wreck the project for their own ends.

He said: "We have the best interests of the covenantors at heart, and we cannot allow the misuse of a database like that. We are investigating how they managed to get hold of that database."

He said the trust planned to carry on with repair work to the Tornado, despite the threat of an injunction.

He said: "We are going to carry on. We have looked at different ways of doing the work, and what we intend to do is what our engineers say is the right way.

"The trust has been putting right the minor problems that there were over a period of months anyway.

"Nothing has changed, other than the fact some people have decided they would rather wreck the project than be involved in it."

Keith Bottomley, whose letter raised the original concerns, said the board was trying to cover up mistakes by carrying out remedial work before a planned inspection.

He said: "They are looking after their own skins, and I suspect they will try to put as much right before the inspection as possible."

He said he had never had a list of covenantors' names, and legal advice suggested the only people at fault might be the board, in not taking sufficient care of their data.