A PIONEERING figure of the region's railways is to be remembered at a talk.

Sir Vincent Raven, who spent most of his working life with the NER company in Gateshead, oversaw the electrification of the Shildon to Newport freight line.

He also had the vision of an electrified main line from York to Newcastle which was set aside with the onset of the First World War.

Andrew Everett, an expert on Raven, will be at the Clayport Library, in Durham City at 2pm on Saturday, November 4, to give an illustrated talk on Raven's locomotive building, in the context of his life and times.