EVERY single nut and bolt on a rusting locomotive is being removed, cleaned and replaced during a painstaking restoration process.

The North-Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group (NELPG) is undertaking its first project since moving into the Hopetown Carriage Works in Darlington.

The group is restoring a locomotive which was built in the town's North Road works in 1918, but which has sat idle at the group's Grosmont base for the past 20 years.

The engine is undergoing a complete overhaul and the group is making good progress, but the work can sometimes be time consuming and frustrating.

Fred Ramshaw of NELPG said: "We're taking it down to the last nut and bolt. Although it'll never ever run on the main line again, we're restoring it to main line standards.

"That means every one of these nuts and bolts has got to come out.

"There are hundreds of them and it's a time-consuming job."

The locomotive is to be stripped down to the bare metal and the parts are to be repainted so it looks as good as new.

The wheels have been examined by a magnetic particle inspector which found no cracks, but there are water marks because it has sat idle for so long.

It is hoped to get the engine re-wheeled in June or July, then another locomotive, a J72, will be brought in and restored in the extra space.

The engine's boiler is at Grosmont and that will take about a year to overhaul.

Mr Ramshaw said: "July 2004 is the 150th anniversary of the North Eastern Railway so we're hoping to get this one finished by then."

The group has picked up a few members from Darlington, who meet to work on the engine every Monday and Thursday evening, but more help is needed.

NELPG also runs the Jacobite engine between Fort William and Mallaig, but that is now getting serviced in Grosmont which is taking up a lot of the group's resources.

One of the highlights of the year was a visit by former employees of the North Road works.

Mr Ramshaw said: "Every year the North Road museum has a reunion for people from the old works and they came in to see the locomotive.

"They were really pleased to see something which was built in Darlington because a lot of them knew it personally."

Anyone who is interested in helping can contact (01325) 382155.

Train will give boost to group

RAIL enthusiasts working to reopen a redundant line through a County Durham dale have been given a huge boost with the arrival of their first steam locomotive.

The Weardale Railway Locomotive Group was disappointed in October when the arrival of the engine Norwood was called off at the last minute because of a crisis at the steelworks where their workshops are based.

Administrators called in to run Weardale Steel, in Wolsingham, at first banned the group from the company's site for health and safety reasons but have now allowed the Norwood to be delivered.