YORK rail museum staff will be following in the footsteps of the first railway pioneers this week by recreating the day the steam locomotive was born.

Two hundred years after the Penydarren first hit the tracks, workers at the National Railway Museum (NRM) will be testing the only working replica of the famous engine - in preparation for a major festival celebrating the bicentenary of rail.

Following a six-month restoration programme in the NRM's workshop, the locomotive has been put back into working order ready to appear with a host of railway icons at the museum's nine-day Railfest from 29 May to June 6.

The original Penydarren locomotive hauled its first train on February 21, 1804, pulling ten tons of iron, 70 passengers and five wagons on a nine-mile journey from Penydarren to the Merthyr-Cardiff Canal.

Designed and built by Cornishman Richard Trevithick, the loco featured an 80-ft flywheel and was the first steam engine to turn exhaust steam up the chimney enabling the boiler to work more efficiently.

Despite earning a place in the history books, the seven-ton loco was so heavy that it continually broke the cast iron track and was quickly retired.

The original locomotive was never preserved, but a full-sized working replica was built by the Welsh Industrial & Maritime Museum (WIMM) in 1981 to celebrate Trevithick's achievement some 177 years earlier.

The Penydarren replica was last steamed at WIMM in 1998, before going on display at the NRM in York.

At Railfest, Penydarren will be on show alongside the world's only working replica of Stephenson's Rocket, the 100 mph barrier-breaking City of Truro, and the brand new Pendolino.

Andrew Scott, of the NRM, said: "The Penydarren engine must go down as one of the world's most significant engineering achievements and to have the only working replica of this historic locomotive back in steam for the bicentenary is a tremendous honour for the NRM."

As the replica Penydarren is like no other locomotive, one of its Welsh operators is travelling to York to help familiarise NRM staff with this unusual engine.

The engine will not be available for public demonstrations until the Railfest event, after which it will return to Wales.

Updated: 14:07 Thursday, February 19, 2004