Up to 80 passengers escaped unhurt when flames licked around the carriage of a Skipton to Leeds train this afternoon.

The passengers were quickly evacuated as the carriage was seen in flames about five miles outside Leeds station.

The three-carriage diesel - the 11.24 Northern Spirit service from Skipton to Leeds - was at the former Armley railway station when the blaze started.

Five fire crews were on hand at the incident at 12.15 this afternoon to tackle the blaze, thought to have been started by a mechanical fault. A fire service spokesman said: "The middle carriage was on fire. Nobody was injured. All trains were stopped in and out of Leeds, and overhead cables have been made safe."

Crews from Leeds, Hunslet and Bramley fire stations were on the scene. Northern Spirit bosses were this afternoon checking whether the fire drama occurred on a train earlier seen billowing smoke outside Saltaire station. Eric Hymas, from Windhill in Shipley, was on the train which departed Keighley at 11.38am as he headed to Shipley. He said: "When the train got to Saltaire the guard ordered everyone out of the middle section and into the first and third sections. The train continued on its way.

"You could see smoke pouring out of it," said retired Mr Hymas, 65, who was in the front section.

"I was flabbergasted the train carried on its way."

The burning Leeds train was at the former Armley railway station at Canal Road, Leeds.

Bradford Councillor Ann Ozolins, travelling on another train 100 yards away, told how she saw the carriage on fire and people leaving in an orderly way.

She said: "There was smoke around our carriages and we were told we must not leave the train under any circumstances."

She said her train filled with fumes at one stage and passengers were given drinks.

Debbie Guy, a receptionist at Farnells, next to the rail line, said: "We saw the train coming down and I thought it was smoking a little.

"Then a man ran in and grabbed a fire extinguisher and ran back to the track.

"Builders pulled down the steel fence around our site and passengers started getting off the train and coming through here.

"They were stunned and shocked but mostly they just wanted to get to their destinations. There was an ambulance at the scene but I didn't see anyone hurt.

"There were five fire engines and a helicopter. It was chaos."

A Northern Spirit spokesman said the line was running as normal again by 1.10pm.

A Railtrack spokesman said the train was the 11.24am Skipton to Leeds service, run by Northern Spirit.

She said: "The train was stopped at Armley and police have got everyone off."