A MILESTONE in train history was due to be marked today at York rail station.
Dignitaries gathered at the trackside to celebrate the 150th birthday of the North Eastern Railway.
A cast iron zero post, previously used to show the start of set distance measurements on various routes, was unveiled to mark the exact anniversary of the rail company's formation - Saturday, July 31, 1854.
The post is a replica of one that once stood on the present Platform 5 at the centre of the station. It was the "zero point" for the start of ten rail lines across the region.
Bearing ten identifying plates, it is believed to have been removed in about 1936 and may have been scrapped.
The ceremony was attended by Sir William McAlpine, chairman of the Railway Heritage Trust, and the Lord Mayor of York, Councillor Janet Looker.
Reg Davies, chairman of the North Eastern Railway Association, said: "The history of the NER is the industrial history of the North-East."
The long lost zero post and a plaque will be fixed in permanent positions, within a few feet of where the original stood, later this week.
The formation of the North Eastern Railway in 1854 after a merger of three companies produced a rail system 700 miles long, with administrative headquarters in York.
Updated: 08:38 Saturday, July 31, 2004
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