FROM this newspaper 100 years ago. - The North of England is represented in a unique and specially interesting way at the St Louis World's Fair. One of the attractions at the great American exhibition is a facsimile of the first railway bridge ever erected, for the creation of which this locality can claim distinction.

The bridge was constructed in 1823 on the making of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, and spanned the river Gaunless at West Auckland.

George Stephenson is its designer, though he did not build it. A man named Storey is said to have been the builder.

The bridge was constructed of cast and wrought iron, having piers of the last named material braced together, and its construction was, to modern ideas, somewhat curious.

This primitive structure did service for upwards of eighty years, but the demands of an increasing mineral traffic from the Auckland coal-fields sealed its doom, and some time ago this interesting link with the early days of the railway gave place to the modern erection.

From this paper 50 years ago. - The first self-service store in Darlington is to be opened by Amos Hinton and Sons Ltd, at their Bondgate premises, where alterations have been going on for some weeks past. This is the first of the firm's branches to be converted into the new system, popular in North America and gaining ground in this country.

Shoppers at the new store will be provided with a wire basket on entering, and will help themselves to the priced goods on the shelves, taking their own time to do so. At the counter, purchases are checked and added by machine and paid for.

This does away with waiting to be served by an assistant, and enables a housewife to take her time choosing without delaying anyone else.

From this paper 25 years ago. - A Barton bungalow was completely gutted when a blow torch started a fire which swept through the roof. Most of the York family possessions were destroyed when the fire at their home in Glebe Close, Barton, near Darlington, was devastated.

The fire started when Mr John Bainbridge, Mr Robert York's brother-in-law, was stripping paint from the eves of the roof of the pre-war bungalow, and the torch alighted some bird's nests.

No-one was injured. Mrs York, her two-year-old son, and her sister, Mrs Joan Bainbridge and her two children escaped from the house, as the fire spread. Mr Bainbridge tried to douse the flames with a hosepipe and help from neighbours, but their efforts were in vain.

The North Yorkshire Fire Brigade recommend home decorators to be careful when using a blow torch, to check that there is nothing dangerously situated.