A PIECE of Mid Cheshire's rich industrial heritage has steamed into Northwich's Salt Museum.

Appealing for local memorabilia for its forthcoming exhibition of Mid Cheshire's railways, curator Matt Wheeler was amazed to come across the old engine name plate for a loco named after one of Northwich's most famous sons, John Brunner.

The loco could regularly be seen shunting limestone trucks around ICI's works at Winnington, Waller-scote and Lostock and the John Brunner, like others on site, were named after eminent chemists.

Matt said: 'This is an exciting find not only for our next exhibition but for the museum itself. While most know of Sir John Brunner's impact on North-wich, not everybody is aware that the first Salt Museum in the town was built by him. He was also a guardian of the workhouse where our existing museum now sits.'

John Hulme, who is helping organise the exhibition, said: 'This really brings home the story of our local railways. While our exhibition will heavily feature memorabilia and stories of the Mid Cheshire lines, ICI was one of the main reasons our railways survived so we are featuring-this ICI shunting engine which will have been company to a lot of the local workforce.

'This find is of great personal interest because my father used to drive shunting engines. I remember being taken for a ride on the old steam engines and the diesels that replaced them.

'We would be interested to hear from anyone who also has memories of the local railways as the exhibition will have its own continuous film show along with the fixed exhibits.'

Underneath the Arches, an Exhibition of Mid-Cheshire Railways starts on January 19 and is being sponsored by Northern Rail. Further details can be found at www.cheshirerail.org