A £10million national museum, celebrating the heritage of the railways in the north-east of England opened on Saturday 1 October 2004.

Locomotion: The National Railway Museum at Shildon in County Durham has been integrated with the existing Timothy Hackworth Museum.

It combines the existing historic buildings and workshops with a new structure housing 60 vehicles from the National Collection, including the classic diesel locomotive Deltic.

One of the exhibits is Sans Pareil, built by local rail pioneer Timothy Hackworth. Sans Pareil was named and built by Hackworth in 1829, to compete in the famous Rainhill Trials.

There are also classrooms, workshops and public art on the site which is nearly one mile long.

Shildon is one of the world's oldest railway towns, and it is hoped that the museum will help explain the area's significance in railway history.

The complex will admit visitors for free for at least three years

More information: http://www.nrm.org.uk/html/locomotion_pb/main.asp