A passenger from Chester was among those caught up in major disruption to train services between the Midlands and Northampton after a vintage locomotive pulling a train full of day-trippers caught fire.

John Stower from Chester took to Facebook to keep people updated after the emergency services were alerted to the incident at around 11.30am on Wednesday (May 3) when there were reports of a fire in a diesel locomotive’s engine bay in Martins Yard, off Spencer Bridge Road, Northampton.

Our sister paper The Coventry Telegraph reported seven fire appliances attended the scene and 40 firefighters tackled the blaze.

The worst hit services were those operated by London Midland between Rugby and Northampton but there were knock-on effects north and south of both towns leading to widespread disruption.

At one point road transport was running between Rugby, Northampton and Milton Keynes Central, calling at all stations affected.

The specially chartered train, thought to be carrying around 300 passengers, was being operated by West Coast Railways, based in Carnforth, Lancashire, a specialist firm running excursions around the UK using vintage trains and rolling stock.

Passengers travelling on the West Coast Railways had paid anything up to £200 for the day trip from Holyhead to Windsor.

A standard adult ticket cost £69 while a premium dining package would have set people back £199, with a first class ticket costing £129.

The train left Holyhead at 6.52am, stopping at Llanfairpwll, Bangor, Llandudno Junction, Colwyn Bay, Rhyl, Flint and Chester. Its final stop-off was at Crewe at 8.40am and it had been scheduled to reach Windsor & Eton Riverside just before 1pm.

London Midland initially said it expected normal service to have resumed by 3pm, though in the event it was around 5.30pm before it confirmed services were again running as normal.

While the disruption ensued even Birmingham New Street station advised passengers of potential disruption to services.

During the line closure a reciprocal agreement saw train travellers able to use their tickets on Virgin Trains services.

John Stower, one of the passengers on the train, from Chester, updated people via Facebook regarding the situation.

At around 1pm he said: “Stuck on the train that had a fire - all ok but will stuck here for some time.”

Around an hour later Mr Stower wrote: “Still stuck, but hopefully moving soon as other train now passing.”

The Telegraph did attempt to contact West Coast Railways for comment but there was no reply.