INDEPENDENT inspectors are to examine a landmark steam locomotive project amid fears work carried out so far is not up to standard.

Anxiety over the future of the £1.7m scheme has forced the trustees overseeing the work to consider ways of giving the 1,500 paying supporters a greater say.

The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust agreed the measures following a stormy, three-and-a-half-hour meeting of covenantors - who make regular contributions to the project - at Darlington's Railway Institute at the weekend.

The trust called the meeting after covenantors were sent a letter raising concerns over the attempt to build Britain's first mainline steam locomotive in 40 years, the A1 Pacific Tornado, under construction in Darlington.

The project's director of engineering, David Elliott, was accused of failing to inform the trust of the extent of the problems. But the trust played down the defects and said all the major faults had already been put right or were now being addressed.

Ian Storey, who owns the preserved locomotive George Stephenson and who was invited to inspect the Tornado earlier this year, said: "There was a list of 30 or 40 items which were not right, we had a look at them and I was horrified when I saw them. In my opinion they are not trifling things."

Bill Brown, manager of the Hopetown engineering works, in Darlington, where the locomotive is being put together, said: "In that works there is a bag of rubbish. There isn't a single component that is right."

Keith Bottomley, whose letter prompted the meeting, said Mr Elliott had withheld the contents of critical inspection reports from the trust board.

But Mr Elliott said the only serious problem raised in the inspections had already been tackled.

He insisted that other faults were minor and could be corrected. He also dismissed accusations that he had misled the board, and said he had only recently become aware of the contents of an earlier critical inspection report.

Trust chairman Mark Allatt rejected claims the project was in danger and said they would now bring in a team of independent inspectors to assess the work done so far on the locomotive.

He said they would also look at ways of giving covenantors the opportunity to get more involved, including publishing annual accounts in the trust magazine and holding question and answer sessions at their conventions.