Winner in driving seat thanks to boyhood memories of diesel trains

His recollections of how his bed used to move across the floor during his childhood when a Class 37 passed through his local station at night has led to him picking up the winner's prize in a competition run by the National Railway Museum in York.

Mr Munt, from Huddersfield, was given the chance on Saturday to start up the newly restored diesel electric D6700 as part of the museum's Class 37 Diesel Anniversary Weekend.

The event marked the 50th anniversary of the wide-scale dieselisation of Britain's railway network and the entry into traffic of D6700, the first of its class to travel the tracks in 1960.

Event organiser and competition judge Rose Lindsay Smith said: "(Mr Munt's) story is one that so many people can relate to, lying in bed at night as a child and hearing a growling goods train rumble along the tracks."

Runner-up Darren Webb, from Poulton Le Fylde, Lancs, also got the chance to achieve his dream of starting up a Class 37 diesel.

Judges were impressed by Mr Webb's dedication to railway heritage as he has been working hard to restore a diesel cab, which he bought from a scrapyard, back to its former glory.