ONE of the pioneering sons of the railways has been chosen by a council to symbolise the regeneration of a town's park.

A bronze statue of Timothy Hackworth is being placed in Shildon's Hackworth Park and its unveiling this week marks the second phase in the regeneration of the park.

The major facelift started last year after it was awarded a grant of £324,500 from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The work has also been funded by £130,000 from the town's Single Regeneration Project and £130,000 from the Town Council.

The new statue replaces an old monument that had to be removed after it was pulled over by vandals.

It was erected in the Twenties at the time when the town's primary school was named after Hackworth.

The top half of the original statue was preserved and visitors can now see it at the Timothy Hackworth Museum.

The new project has been a labour of love for sculptress Denise Dutton, who has scoured museums and pictures of the railwayman in order to create the statute.

Ms Dutton, who is from Buxton, Derbyshire, was commissioned by Leander Architectural Services, which is carrying out regeneration work on the park's bandstand and water fountain.

Town council clerk Tom Toward said: "We wanted something as close to the likeness of Timothy Hackworth we could get.

"Denise has done masses of research. The face has very distinguishing features and there has never been a statue that is such a dead ringer for Timothy Hackworth.

"The members of the council who have seen it think it is excellent.''

Careful restoration work is also being carried out this week on both the fountain and the bandstand.

The park's revamp comes at an exciting time for Shildon, where work is about to start on a £7m railway village.

Mr Toward said: "The town has improved dramatically over the last three or four years and we have had a lot of compliments from people visiting the town.

"It just goes to show that people really appreciate it.''