A NEW national museum is strengthening its place on the global tourism map by being nominated for an international award.

Locomotion: the National Railway Museum at Shildon is now in the running for the European Museum of the Year Award.

The award scheme, administered by the European Museum Forum, aims to recognise excellence in established modernised museums and in new museums - the category for which Locomotion has been nominated.

More than 60 museums from across the continent have been selected and two Euro judges are expected to visit Locomotion, which opened last September, next weekend.

But museum bosses will have a long wait before they discover if they have been successful, as a shortlist of around ten museums is not likely to be finalised until the end of this year.

The nomination for this award for Locomotion comes on the back of its first major accolade - The Museums and Heritage Show Award for permanent exhibition.

Award judges were impressed with the £11m venture's close consultation with the community, its sustainability, and efforts to engage people of all ages in the area's railway story.

Museum manager George Muirhead said: "It is a fantastic achievement to receive this award.

"It acknowledges the hard work that has gone into creating such a groundbreaking partnership venture, as that which has been pioneered by Sedgefield Borough Council and the National Railway Museum."

The attraction also recently narrowly missed out on one of the country's most prestigious arts prizes - The Gulbenkian Prize for UK Museum of the Year. It had reached the final shortlist of four.

Mr Muirhead added: "Locomotion is just at the beginning of its life and we have much more still to do, so to have come this far in such a short space of time is tremendously promising.