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I HAVE read with great interest and some concern your Stockton & Darlington Railway souvenir supplement,Treasuring our Railway Heritage, (Echo, Sept 26).

I am aware that much of this material has been published previously, but I should have thought that most of the earlier errors, inaccuracies and contradictions might have been deleted by now. On page 14, paragraph four says: "Locomotives were operating successfully at only two collieries in the country - Killingworth and Hetton, both developed by George Stephenson". This is simply not true. Middleton Colliery at Leeds had been using steam locomotives successfully since 1812, commercially as well as mechanically, and Hedley at Wylam Colliery had also been using steam locomotives since circa 1814. Beamish Museum research is also finding indications of others in use in Northumberland. In none of these was George Stephenson concerned, except to observe and copy where he thought suitable.

And the original R Stephenson Works in Newcastle were (and still are) in South Street; they did not expand round the corner into Forth Street for some years.

It is also unlikely that Edward Pease actually saw the original Blucher in action; Stephenson had moved on by then, and had several locomotives in use at Killingworth.

Paul Ducker's picture of Locomotion No.1 at Stockton Quay is very nice, but it is a pity that he was not given better guidance. He has shown it entirely as now preserved, and at the time it would have been different in several ways. - TR Pearce, Middlesbrough.

RAILWAY FESTIVAL

AM I alone in thinking that this year's railway festival was very poor compared to other years? The decision to close the museum on Friday night was wrong, the fireworks were poor and there was no lighting in the field to see where you were walking. In future can A Full Head of Steam and Aria please let the old organisers organise it? - M Bowes, Darlington.

BATTLE OF BRITAIN

HOW true is the letter from EA Moralee (HAS, Sept 28) that there is scant regard for the bomber crews who at times were the only force attacking the German mainland in the Second World War. Over 50 per cent were killed, thousands have no known grave and the Government declined to provide a medal for their efforts.

Imagine if half the Royal Navy had been sunk or if half the British Army had been killed - it would make prominence in the history books. Who now can say they remember the bomber raid on Nuremberg? There were 97 aircraft lost, many with a crew of seven, and all that most have been taught about bomber raids on Germany is the raid on Dresden.

When Dresden was raided the German rockets and flying bombs were landing willy-nilly on London, hitting hospitals, schools, etc. They carried no Bomb Aimer as the RAF planes did.

Almost one million Germans were manning the anti-aircraft guns, radar and night fighter airfields. Imagine if that amount of manpower was available to the German forces. Moscow might have been taken, and the D Day Invasion could have been repelled.

Children of today have been asked about the Battle of Britain and very few knew about it. How many adults know anything about the Battle of Germany? - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

MARGINAL VOTES

IF IT is true that hundreds of millions of taxpayers' pounds have been effectively stolen from the regeneration budget and used to buy off marginal voters for the next election, then Tony Blair and his cronies should hang their heads in shame.

That fund was set up by the Tories to target aid into the worst unemployment blackspots around the country - areas like the North-East. Now it seems that New Labour is attempting to bribe voters in marginal Labour seats around the country to back Mr Blair for a second term in Government.

The North/South divide has never been so wide or so deep and yet Blair obviously believes that he can carry on kicking this region in the guts without suffering electoral defeat. Well, let me tell you Prime Minister, you won't be able to count on the support of Northerners for very much longer.

That money should be counted against Labours' General Election expenses and those responsible should be made accountable for it. Under the Representation of The Peoples Act, bribing voters is an imprisonable offence. As far as I am concerned, bribing them with their own money is just plain dishonest. - Aidan Ruff, Ellingham, Northumberland.

ECONOMICS

WHAT is all this gobbledygook and mumbo-jumbo in Tony Blair's Labour Conference speech?

Contrary to what he says, the big picture tells us exactly the opposite. Indeed, in little more than 30 years' time Britain, on its present political and economic path, will have a standard of living less than that of the latter 1960s in relative terms to the rest of the world.

This projection is brought out by many facts but predominantly that from the start of the 20th Century to the start of the 21st Century our currency against the US dollar has shrunk to 31 per cent of its value, in the last year the pound has devalued against the US dollar by a further eight per cent and the UK's global trade deficit in non-oil products is now well in excess of £50bn per annum. This immense accumulating trade deficit (more than £400bn over the last ten years) will devalue the pound to at least half its present worth in ten years' time.

Britain's Revealed Technological Advantage Index with the rest of the world is now only 65 per cent of what it was in 1968 and still declining year-on-year. Our national debt is £319.2bn or 34 per cent of GDP and growing and our oil reserves that keep the nation financially afloat will be depleted by 2025. What will we do then when we have to import our oil once more just as the nation did before 1975?

Conversely to what is said by our Prime Minister, this Labour administration is still not listening - to the unavoidable harm of our children and their futures. - Dr David Hill, Huddersfield, Yorkshire.