It took fire crews about six hours to extinguish the blaze between Pickering and Goathland, which covered seven acres of moorland close to the tracks.

The railway line had to be closed so crews could move equipment nearer the fire in a bid to stop it spreading.

Manager of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway Philip Benham said they did what they could to prevent fires.

Dry conditions

He praised the firefighters involved for their good humour in dealing with the situation.

"It is a problem that we do experience from time to time," he said.

"The locomotives do have devices on them that are designed to minimise and prevent sparks being thrown out and normally this works reasonably well.

"But obviously there's always a risk with a steam engine if the conditions are very dry."