SUSAN JALEEL suggested (HAS, Apr 3) that the Stockton and Darlington Railway’s Locomotion No 1 and Derwent should be returned to Bank Top Station “where they belong”.

Leaving them on a platform (admittedly under a roof but still exposed to the extremes of hot and cold weather) is hardly the best way to look after these historic and, after nearly 200 years, surprisingly fragile machines.

That is not to mention the temptation they they would present for drunken mucking about, deliberate vandalism or metal theft.

Darlington railway museum (foolishly renamed Head of Steam after its refurbishment in 2008) is one of a cluster of listed railway buildings in Darlington, and it is the public face of Darlington’s railway heritage.

Yet, as reported regularly in the Echo, it faces losing the council grant that it currently relies upon in 2016.

Without another source of funding it will close.

If a multi-millionaire rail enthusiast were to start supporting the museum, few would object, but surely the best way to raise the money, ensure the museum’s future and, not incidentally, do Darlington’s railway heritage no end of good would be to attract more visitors. How to do that is something to be worked on but removing Locomotion and Derwent would certainly not be a good start.

In the interests of transparency, I should mention that I am a member of the Friends of Darlington Railway Museum (www.friendsofdrcm.org).

Tim Ruffle, Chilton.