SIR Michael Palin is the latest person to back a town's campaign to keep a historic locomotive.

The Monty Python star, who is is also an avid train traveller, has backed Darlington Borough Council's campaign to keep Locomotion No. 1 in the town's Head of Steam Museum.

He said: "Darlington and Locomotion Number One are two of the great names in railway history, they should remain united.”

Council leader Councillor Heather Scott said: "Keeping Locomotion No. 1 in Darlington is crucial for our 2025 celebrations – it’s unthinkable to imagine it anywhere else but Darlington for the 200th anniversary of the world’s first passenger railway. It is heart-warming to know our campaign has struck a chord with Michael Palin who is famous for travelling the world many times over using the railway.”

Built by pioneering railway engineers George and Robert Stephenson, the locomotive was the first to haul a passenger-carrying train on a public railway, making its inaugural journey in 1825 between Stockton and Darlington.

For more than 160 years, the locomotive has been looked after by the people of Darlington, and since 1975, it has been on permanent display at the Head of Steam, Darlington’s railway museum.

As a national asset, Locomotion No. 1 is part of the National Collection and is therefore under the control of the National Railway Museum (NRM), part of the Science Museum Group. Now, the NRM has revealed plans to move it out of town.

To find out more about the campaign visit: www.darlington.gov.uk/keep-the-loco-in-darlo