A STEAM engine saved from the scrapheap half a century ago has gone on display at the museum where it received a facelift.

Great Northern Railways’ saddle tank engine has been restored to its original colours at Locomotion: The National Railway Museum, in Shildon, County Durham.

The engine appeared in the 1968 BBC television series The Railway Children, but is significant for another reason.

In May 1959, Royal Naval Reserve Captain Bill Smith bought the disused vehicle from British Railways, which was selling its redundant steam engines for scrap at the time.

Museum curator Anthony Coulls said: “He bought it so small boys in the future could have the enjoyment of seeing steam engines on the railways the way he had.

“It was the first one saved from the scrapheap, and without his intervention, we might not have the Flying Scotsman, which was bought four years later because he had paved the way.”