A PRIVATE railway company is facing a £50,000 repair bill and possible compensation claims after passengers were injured in a collision during an Autumn Steam gala.

A stationary eight-coach train was struck by the "Duke of Gloucester" locomotive at Rawtenstall on the East Lancashire Railway line on October 30.

The accident resulted in 14 passengers suffering facial injuries and being taken to hospital by ambulance.

The loco was travelling at an estimated seven mph during the "running round" manoeuvre at the railway's northern terminus.

Though their vacuum brakes were fully applied, the coaches were catapulted backwards on impact by 3ft.

The East Lancashire Light Railway Company, which operates steam services at weekends throughout the year and is run by volunteers, accepted liability for the collision.

Now its insurers will have to meet the repair costs, which are estimated between £25,000 to £50,000, plus any possible claims for personal injury compensation. It leases the track from the The East Lancashire Railway Trust, which took control of the line after its commercial use ended.

According to Peter Duncan, chairman of the East Lancashire Light Railway Company, they have received three letters about the incident -- with one making reference to injuries suffered as a result of the incident.

Mr Duncan said: "We are the same as any other large organisation. Hundreds of thousands of people travel with us each year and out of that number you will get a few who have a trip, slip or fall. That's not to say they are all going to claim

compensation. We have only had two people write asking to refund the cost of a taxi fare to hospital and another requesting the refund of the train fare which is fair."

He added: "The only other letter we have had is one from somebody, who was advised by their doctor to inform us that they suffered whiplash but nothing further has happened so to say that we are facing masses of injury claims would be wrong."

The Health and Safety Executive have been called in to investigate the incident.

A spokesman said today: "Our inquiries are still on-going as we have a number of checks to make including that the train was functioning as its designed to do and our investigation also involves interviewing all the witnesses before we can come to a conclusion.

"As the investigation is still continuing at this point we are unable to comment further."

The accident is similar to one at Rawtenstall in April, 2002, when a 'Black Five' loco collided with its own train. It suffered £10,000 of front-end damage. Freight trains stopped using the East Lancashire Line in 1980.

Since then it has been preserved by steam train enthusiasts and turned into a tourist attraction running from Bury to Rawtenstall.

The re-opening of a stretch of line between Bury and Heywood has meant that the East Lancashire Railway is once again connected to Britain's rail network.

The "Duke of Gloucester" was the last express loco built by British Railways. No more of the class were constructed after it was decided to scrap steam locomotives in favour of diesel and electric traction.

The engine was rescued from the scrapyard and restored by enthusiasts.