'Steam is testament to how our region led the way'

Two metro train drivers who put in voluntary shifts shovelling coal on a steam railway have said the historic engineering is a "testament to how our region led the way".

Michael Darling, from Monkseaton, and Rob Kitching, from Durham, who usually help run the Tyne and Wear Metro, also volunteer for the Stephenson Steam Railway Museum in North Tyneside.

The pair, who are both qualified steam engine drivers, drive the museum's only working engine - the Ashington Number 5 - on a two mile (3.2km) stretch of line at Percy Main in North Shields.

Kitching said: "They are part of the heritage of the North East, and are testament to how our region led the way with this technology."

Darling, who has been a volunteer at the railway since he was 17, said he had "always had an interest in trains".

"It's a niche hobby that not many people get to do, I get a lot of pleasure from it - it's both exciting and interesting," he said.

He said he particularly enjoyed driving steam engines because "you have to use your brain constantly because they are sensitive pieces of machinery".

Steam trains were phased out in the North East during the 1970s, but Darling said "it's important that people still get to see them".

"After all, we gave railways to the world thanks to George Stephenson," he said.

Stephenson and his son Robert created the first steam train to carry passengers on a public rail line, the Stockton and Darlington Railway, in 1825.

He later built the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which opened in 1830, and continued to work on other routes and rail projects for the rest of his career.

• Stockton and Darlington Railway: What's so special about a 200-year-old railway?

The stretch of rail used by the steam museum was rebuilt in the 1970s for use as the Metro's test track before services began in the 80s - the museum later took it over in the 90s.

Kitching, who has been a Metro driver for eight years and volunteering at the museum for 10 years, said he had inherited a "family interest in trains" and previously drove them at Beamish Museum.

He said his interest in steam actually "helped to pave the way for me to become a Metro driver".

"Steam trains are just amazing, I like the engineering of them and being able to appreciate something that was been hand built so many years ago - and is still working today," Kitching said.

"Railways are in the blood of our region and it's nice to be part of something that celebrates it for future generations."

Stephenson Steam Railway museum manager Geoff Woodward said: "Volunteers are at the heart of [the museum] and we really couldn't do what we do without them."

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