TRAIN enthusiasts got on board this weekend for a behind-the-scenes look at how a historic station is being transformed into a £1.7m attraction.

A group of 20 people were given a whistle-stop tour of Darlington Railway Centre and Museum on Saturday to see the progress of the visitor attraction's transformation.

It was the first time visitors have been allowed in the grade II-listed Victorian station, which opened as part of the world's first passenger railway in 1842, since work began at Easter.

Details of how the station will look when the refurbishment is finished were also revealed.

Improvements include a new cafe, education centre and research centre, as well as displays explaining the crucial role Darlington played in developing the railways.

All the station's remaining original features, including the footbridge, waiting room, gentlemen's toilets and tobacco kiosk, will be kept.

Six themes will be created for the displays, which will each have their own separate area.

They will be set up in chronological order, leading visitors around the station's platforms and showing the impact of the railways.

Other work includes reroofing the station and moving engines Locomotion and Derwent, currently displayed on the platforms, on to the tracks.

Another locomotive, Q7, will be moved to the museum from Locomotion: the National Railway Museum, at Shildon. The Tennant engine, which is already in Darlington, will also be displayed on the tracks.

Project co-ordinator John Wilks, who led the tour, said the aim was to create a world-class visitor attraction recognising Darlington's significant role in the birth of the railways. The railways' impact on the social, economic, and even political development of the world was absolutely immense, he said.

"You could say the development of the world through the railways all started here."

Jenny Chapman, Darlington Borough Council's cabinet member for leisure services, said she was impressed with the way the project was progressing.

She said: "I think Darlington has a lot to be proud of in its railway heritage, which has been central to the growth of the town."