A "transformational" multi-million-pound extension to the Preston Park Museum will open with three exhibitions focusing on the bicentenary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.

The new Spence Building includes an exhibition space as well as large open stores, a new cafe and shop alongside the museum's existing Victorian street and old hall. Council bosses say it will allow the museum to show national collections and touring exhibitions it could never host before, as well as show off much more of the museum's own extensive collection of artefacts.

The exhibition space is being launched with 'Tracks Of Change', a trio of exhibitions which celebrate how the railways changed the world. Gateway To The World showcases three iconic paintings about the impact of railways by Victorian artis

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