Miniature steam train derails after tractor accident

A tractor crashed into the miniature steam train carrying 50 people (Stock image)
A tractor crashed into the miniature steam train carrying 50 people (Stock image)

A tourist miniature steam train carrying around 50 passengers has derailed after crashing into a tractor.

Kent fire and rescue service were called to reports of a collision between the train and a farm tractor on a level crossing on Hythe Road, in Dymchurch, Kent, at 2.40pm on Saturday.

Five people, including the train driver, were treated at the scene by paramedics for minor injuries, out of the approximately 50 people on board.

Crews then secured the locomotive’s boiler which was thought to be at risk of exploding, the fire service said.

The engine and the first compartment of the train derailed in the incident on the south Kent coast at about 2.30pm.

"I could hear the whistle going and that is quite unusual so I walked into my garden to see what was going on," witness Sandra Leverick told local news website KentOnline.

"There is an unmanned crossing which I have seen the tractor using regularly, but the tractor wasn't moving and the train was coming.

"They carried on blowing the whistle and then suddenly the front engine part of the train was off the tracks.

"The driver was amazing. I know they are all volunteers and he leapt about four to five feet out of the train and was then helping people from the first carriage which was leaning on to the ground."

The Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch line was closed after the incident. Kent Police confirmed they had been called to the scene at 2.35pm. Police officers said that no-one suffered serious injuries.

The Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway is manned by volunteers and transports passengers from Hythe to Dungeness.