THE tug-of-war over Locomotion No 1 is desperately difficult. We want the 2025 bicentenary to be a global event which the whole region – from Witton Park to Saltburn – both benefits from and enjoys.
Locomotion No 1 is a globally important item and deserves to be seen by the widest possible audience, and the plans for the Locomotion museum will be brilliant for putting Shildon on the map.
But while Shildon will benefit from taking Locomotion No 1, Darlington will be diminished by losing it. The town’s museum, its regeneration hopes and the combined authority’s plans to commemorate 2025 will be undermined.
The National Railway Museum holds all the cards through owning the engine and should be supporting a town which is belatedly doing the right thing in treasuring its heritage.
It was Darlington money, ingenuity, perseverance and daring which enabled Locomotion No 1 to make history 200 years ago, and it would be very wrong if that were overlooked just because the first journey started in Shildon.
The town’s politicians are right to campaign for its interests.
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