THE day the Northern Daily Telegraph's reputation for bringing out the news on time was saved - thanks to a rather unlikely hero, a steam-driven roller.

A crisis had arisen in the fledgling paper's office in the early 1890s when the gas engine which ran the newspaper's printing presses had broken down and was not repairable in time for the day's first edition.

All seemed lost until the newspaper's founder, Thomas Purvis Ritzema, had a brilliant idea.

He called the town's highway department and borrowed a steam-driven roller.

As the picture shows a curious crowd had gathered to watch the drive belt run from the steam engine, down into the newspaper's cellar and onto the machinery inside.

Before long the newspapers were pouring from the presses at a rate of 1,000 copies an hour and the edition was saved.

The newspaper has changed its title, shape and size a few times in the past 132 years and has always remained in the town centre, just a few hundred yards from the railway station.

After purchasing two adjoining shops at 19 and 21 Railway Road, it took just 21 days for the first halfpenny edition to appear.

After the premises were adapted, machinery procured, supplies like ink and paper purchased, 50 staff recruited, advertisers canvassed and all the other tiny organisational details sorted the paper was ready to roll on the presses.