A PAIR of rare locomotives will be back on the tracks this weekend at a spectacular steam event on the world’s oldest railway.

The engines are thought to be the only survivors of the H Class locomotives designed to work on the tightly twisting North Eastern Railway tracks close to the River Tyne in the late 19th Century.

The unromantically named 1310 and 985 will be fired up once more for the two-day annual steam gala taking place at Tanfield Railway, near Stanley , in County Durham, on Saturday and Sunday.

Alan Thompson, operations director at Tanfield Railway, said: "These engines were once quite literally vital to Tyneside ’s heavy industry. "Everything that those industries depended upon was moved by train and small engines like this pair did all of the hard and often forgotten work that kept everything moving.

"They might be small, but for their size they are really quite powerful."

Engine 1310 was built in 1891 in Gateshead and spent four decades working at Tyne Dock, in Jarrow.

It was later bought by the Pelaw Main Collieries Company and hauled coal from the pits of Ouston and Birtley to the staithes on the Tyne.

It was retired in 1965 and has since been preserved by volunteers at the Middleton Railway, in Leeds.

Engine 985 was built in Darlington and also worked at Tyne Dock as well as spells at Hull, London’s East End and the Nottinghamshire coalfield before it was retired in 1964.

Both H Class engines will be carrying passengers throughout the gala weekend, which will also include exhibitions, traction engines and vintage vehicle displays.

Admission is £12 for adults, £8 for children and senior citizens, and free for the under fives. For further details, please visit www.tanfieldrailway.co.uk.