A SYMBOL of County Durham's railway heritage is to return for the first time in over four decades.

The iconic “Lambton Tanks” tank engines were famed for their work on coal trains between collieries in the Houghton area and staithes in Sunderland. They found cult status in the late 1960s when photographers and enthusiasts from around the country flocked to Philadelphia sheds to see their last days.

Now, for the first time since the early 1970s, one is to return as star guest at an event on the volunteer-run Tanfield Railway, near Stanley.

Built 110 years ago, Lambton Hetton and Joicey Collieries No. 29 left County Durham for Yorkshire when steam was ousted from Philadelphia.

It has since been seen working in parts as distant as Kent and Staffordshire, but has never returned to County Durham.

Thanks to a partnership between the locomotive’s owners, the Lambton Locomotives Trust, and volunteers at Tanfield Railway, it will return on Saturday and Sunday, September 13 and 14 when it will feature in a gala weekend alongside the line’s other engines.

Tanfield Railway director David Watchman said: "The Lambton railway system was unique.

“At its height it operated more than 50 locomotives, had five engine sheds and could send more than 50,000 tonnes of coal a week to be loaded into ships on the Wear.

"What made the Lambton system even more special is that, for more than a century, it ran its own trains over the main line railway to Sunderland under a special agreement. The Lambton tanks were built specifically for that work and they became an icon of North-East railway history."

For further details of the event visit www.tanfield-railway.co.uk