RAILWAY museum bosses are pressing ahead with plans to make it one of the best visitor attractions in the country.

Locomotion: The National Railway Museum at Shildon, County Durham, opened in September 2004 and in its first year of operation attracted 240,000 visitors.

Since then, tourists and local people have continued to flock to the venue, with visitor numbers settling at about 140,000 a year - 115 per cent above the original estimate of 65,000.

It has pumped an estimated £4m into the local economy and created at least 45 jobs.

Sedgefield Borough Council and the National Railway Museum at York, which jointly operate the attraction, are determined to keep the momentum going.

The council has commissioned a team of consultants, for £19,000, to create a plan for the next stage of development at the venue.

It has again called on the expertise of Liverpool consultants LNP, which it worked with in 2000 to devise the original museum plans.

The company's suggestions will be used by museum chiefs to create an investment plan to apply for grants towards development over the next five years.

Phil Ball, the council's director of leisure services, said: "We want to see how we can further develop the visitor offer and make it even more exciting.

"Locomotion has been incredibly successful since it opened, but there is so much more potential.

"We have to think about all the exciting opportunities there are to improve the museum itself, the rest of the site and we must make more connections with the town.

"Shildon is already benefiting, with private investment particularly housing, and a feelgood factor, but local people and entrepreneurs need to feel it more.

"So many museums enjoy a good first year, then wait for visitor numbers to drop before thinking about the next phase, we want to build on it while things are good."

Mr Ball said the consultants would consider the potential of developing the entire museum site, which includes coal drops and railway cottages.

They will also look towards linking up with other projects such as town rail trails, vintage transport organisations and Durham Amateur Football Trust.