Rail blazes cause delays

East Coast Rail advised passengers to seek alternative services, and also supplied buses, after the fires near Doncaster – and in a broken-down train at Peterborough – delayed some trains by more than two hours and caused knock-on delays to other services.

It is understood the fires were caused by sparks from an old-fashioned steam train igniting patches of dry grass close to the railway line.

The fires covered an 18-mile stretch of track and, at one stage, five teams of firefighters were called out to deal with the blaze.