TONY Blair would have been talking through his hat, had he been wearing one, when he remarked that the prototype Deltic diesel he stood beside at the opening of Locomotion in Shildon was bigger than anything in America.

A bit of tongue in cheek exaggeration by the PM, not renowned for being a railway authority, but the Deltic was certainly the most powerful diesel locomotive of its type in Britain when it was first rolled out 49 years ago.

Generally overlooked in the steam-shrouded euphoria surrounding the County Durham outpost of the National Railway Museum, the prototype Deltic was the mother of 22 almost identical twins which revolutionised travel on the East Coast main line between London and Scotland with 100 mph running for the first time to meet growing competition from airlines in the sixties.

Only a handful of those distinguished progeny from the Deltic production line survive actively in private ownership following withdrawal in 1982, although from a parochial viewpoint it was sad that examples named after the Green Howards and the Durham Light Infantry failed to escape the scrapman's torch.

People in County Durham, North Yorkshire and Cleveland were instrumental in forming the Deltic Preservation Society, however, and the three iconic machines owned by that organisation continue to delight enthusiasts with the distinctive roar which once reverberated daily around Bank Top Station at Darlington on such trains as the Tees-Tyne Pullman and the Newcastle Executive.

Glorious memories still cherished by Spectator, privileged to have made a 232-mile ride in the cab of a Deltic from Darlington to London with a friendly Tyneside crew back in 1973. Every engine has its place at Locomotion, even if that landmark prototype is now silent and still.

The super-bookies

AS the furore over the Government's proposals to liberalise the gambling laws in this country rolled on this week, some residents of Neasham Road in Darlington may have noted with dismay that the large new shop unit built over the summer close to the Matalan store opened its doors at last.

The disappointment will arise from the knowledge that these smart new premises the size of a small aircraft hanger are to be occupied by what must be one of the grandest betting shops in the North-East. Darlington may not end up being home to one of the regional super-casinos proposed in the Government's Bill but it looks as if it has got a super-bookies. Just what Neasham Road needs.