WORK has started on putting up the 1,000-seat purpose-built theatre at the National Railway Museum, in York.

The structure is being set up for York Theatre Royal's summer residency, which will feature productions of In Fog And Falling Snow and The Railway Children.

In Fog And Falling Snow, which will run from June 26 to July 11, tells the story of York's railway history from the 1840s by taking the audience on a tour of the museum's collections before they are seated in the temporary theatre for the second half.

Written by York playwrights Bridget Foreman and Mike Kenny, it will be performed by a cast of 200, led by professional actor George Costigan in the role of "railway king" George Hudson.

The Railway Children, one of York's most succesful stage shows, will be performed from July 31 to September 5.

Last week, the Theatre Royal announced that its legendary Berwick Kaler pantomime, which this year will be entitled Dick Whittington And His Meerkat, could be staged in the new structure if the theatre's £4.1 million renovations are not finished in time.