A PASSIONATE supporter of The Press’s campaign to save the National Railway Museum has told of her late husband’s role in its opening, writes Kate Whitaker.

Una Jackson, of Staithes Close, Acomb, said her husband, Brian, worked on the site as a steam engine fitter on loan from British Rail for two years, before its opening in 1975.

She said the museum was created in the old engine sheds where Brian, who died earlier this year, had started his career in 1948.

He worked on the railway all his life and was in his early 40s when he became involved in fitting the engines that would be exhibited there.

She said she and her husband were at the museum when it was officially opened by The Duke of Edinburgh, when Brian and other workers were given bronze medals – replicas of a silver medal Prince Philip received for his part in the unveiling of the museum.

Mrs Jackson, 72, said she remembered the instant popularity of the museum after it opened.

She said people were willing to pay entrance fees then and she believed they probably still would be today.

She strongly supported The Press campaign, which was launched earlier this month after a museums chief warned it might close if the Government went ahead with another drastic cut in funding.

“It is part of our living history. My grandfather, father and husband all worked on the railway,” she said.