EAST Lancashire day trippers' plans for a day out by the sea were derailed after a series of disasters left them enduring a 17-hour nightmare.

And the passengers had to abandon plans to hand over a donation in memory of murdered TV presenter Jill Dando in her home town of Weston-super- Mare - because they had to turn back before they even got there.

St James' Church, Blackburn, had chartered a train to take around 530 people to Bath and the resort town.

But although 400 of the passengers got to Bath, those destined for the seaside never arrived. The train set off at 6.45am from Rosegrove, Burnley, stopping at several pick-up points in East Lancashire.

But the problems soon started.

At Didcot, passengers had to wait 90 minutes while a problem with the brakes was fixed and a relief train crew travelled from nearby Oxford.

Fifteen minutes after leaving Didcot, a steam engine travelling in front of the St James' train set fire to the embankment, delaying the day trippers while firefighters dealt with the blaze.

The train finally reached Bath an hour and a half behind schedule - but for those passengers going on to Weston-super-Mare, there was more trouble to come.

They couldn't leave Bath for about 15 minutes because a vehicle had run into a railway bridge and they had to wait while the bridge was checked to see if it was safe.

Then on the approach to Bristol, an electrical fire in the third coach of the train filled it with smoke.

The train came to a standstill in the middle of Bristol Temple Meads station, but the passengers couldn't get off because there was no platform to either side of them.

They stayed there for 90 minutes before the train was shunted to the platform and the passengers managed to get off.

They then had a 45-minute to an hour wait on the platform.

By that time it was 4.30pm and all plans for the trip to Weston had to be abandoned.

The train turned round, picked up the passengers from Bath and got back to Burnley at midnight - an hour late!

Church warden Ian Stocks, who organises the St James Day Tripper excursions twice a year, said it had been very frustrating as there was nothing they could do but he wanted to thank all the passengers for their patience, good humour and support on what turned out to be an extremely difficult day.

He said: "The passengers stayed in good humour throughout. We took it like English people, cool and calm." Carnforth-based West Coast Railways Company, which supplied the train, is carrying out an inquiry into what happened.

On the journey south passengers collected £275 for the Weston Hospice in memory of its patron, Jill Dando. The church decided to give the same amount to the East Lancashire Hospice from the proceeds of the day out.

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