IT is so sad that negotiations have broken down between Darlington and the National Railway Museum at York over the future of Locomotion No 1.

As it is impossible for the engine to be in two places at once, one side is going to be the loser in this – unless, of course, a sensible compromise can be reached, with them both sharing it in the future. Say six months on, six months off…

The NRM appears to object to Darlington politicians campaigning to keep the locomotive in the town where it has been looked after for the last 163 years – but the townspeople would have been outraged if the council had rolled over without a fight because the engine is as important to the identity of Darlington as the Transporter Bridge is to Middlesbrough.

However, it is also true that over the decades the town has not made the most of this globally significant item.

Only yesterday we reported how the Lindisfarne Gospels were returning to the North-East, their spiritual home, showing how compromise is possible.

The 200th anniversary of the opening of the railway in 2025 should be a global event that benefits the whole region. For that to happen, everyone has to work together. Everyone has to win – and that can only be achieved by talking and an honest desire to compromise.