MACHINES from the golden age of steam will be at one of the region's leading tourist attractions this weekend.

Visitors to the Beamish Museum, near Chester-le-Street, County Durham, can enjoy a traction engine rally tomorrow and on Sunday.

The Steam Glorious Steam event will feature vehicles dating from the 1890s to the 1930s.

It will be followed on Sunday, May 16, with classic sports cars on show and in action at the Morgan Car Meet.

Beamish is one of several venues across the region taking part in National Museums and Galleries Month this month.

Tomorrow, the Discovery Museum, in Blandford Square, Newcastle, holds a stained glass workshop with artist Vincent Cooper.

The Bowes Museum, in Barnard Castle, County Durham, has the Grand Designs exhibition, a collection based on notable gardens of the North-East and the personalities behind them.

Darlington Railway Centre and Museum is hosting a Steam Weekend from Saturday, May 29, to Monday, May 31, offering nostalgic rides in a brake van behind a steam engine.

There will also be workshops to build a model of the Skerne Bridge the same weekend.

Published: 07/05/2004