HERITAGE groups are trying to establish whether stone railway sleepers on an internet auction site, purportedly from the world’s first passenger railway, are genuine.

A man has been cautioned for trying to sell what he claimed were sleepers from the Stockton and Darlington Railway on eBay.

The Northern Echo has been thanked for reporting the sale of the sleepers which, if genuine, are irreplaceable.

Two separate sellers were auctioning what they claimed were sleepers on the website.

One of them, based in Stockton, said the sleepers were excavated during the recent construction of the new Darlington ring road.

The original trackbed of the Stockton and Darlington railway had been unearthed during construction of the Eastern Transport Corridor, in the town.

However, the sleepers were supposedly covered by three metres of soil and their positions recorded for posterity.

A few were put aside for use in displays and interpretation.

When The Northern Echo spotted the sleepers being advertised for £30 on eBay, it alerted Darlington Borough Council which, in turn, informed the police.

The auction site led to another which showed photographs of the sleepers.

When questioned by police, the seller admitted trying to sell items fraudulently and accepted a caution.

The first seller told officers he had bought the sleepers in good faith from someone who claimed they were genuine.

He did not have the contact details for the man and police have been unable to establish if the sale was legitimate.

A spokeswoman for Darlington Borough Council said: “We will work with Durham Archaeology to establish if they are genuine sleepers or not and, if they are, find out which area of original rail track they were removed from.

“However, we are confident the only sleepers removed from site during construction of the Eastern Transport Corridor were those identified for preservation in the Head of Steam museum – all other sleepers were buried in their existing terrain.

“As a local authority, whenever we are alerted to potential crime or damage to our heritage we will pursue it vigorously and we’d like to thank The Northern Echo for working with us to make sure this investigation could be conducted and successfully resolved.”

A spokeswoman for Durham Police said: “This series of events highlights the potential for fraudulent sales online and the need for buyers to beware of the perils of buying online.”

The Northern Echo tried to contact the original seller, but he was unavailable for contact.