THE home of one of the first rail passenger services in the world could be handed over to the recently-opened Locomotion: National Railway Museum.

The Daniel Adamson Coach House, in Shildon, County Durham, once stabled horses used to pull coaches along the Surtees Railway and onto the Stockton and Darlington Railway.

It was built in 1831 by Daniel Adamson, landlord of the Grey Horse pub, who seized upon the new form of transport for his horse-drawn service, The Perseverance.

The building, once threatened with demolition before its importance was realised, has been used as a community centre since the closure of the town's wagon works in the early 1980s.

But now the community group that runs it says it is no longer able to keep it going.

The Daniel Adamson Community Association, which has been caring for the building at the bottom of Byerley Road, says people are no longer interested in using it as a community centre.

It was with reluctance that the committee asked Sedgefield Borough Council to take back the Coach House and adjoining farmhouse, which had both been refurbished in 2002.

Association secretary June Marshall said: "We didn't want it to close, but it was becoming more difficult to find funding, and windows kept being broken.

"With all the work we have done, we did not just want to walk away."

It is believed the Coach House will be adapted and used as a display area for exhibits from Locomotion.

The farmhouse will have to be sold to pay for the upkeep of the Coach House.

A council spokesman confirmed it had taken on the buildings and that the farmhouse would be going up for sale this week.