An vintage steam locomotive, used in the original BBC TV series of The Railway Children, starring Jenny Agutter, is to be taken off the rails.

Sir Berkeley, built in Leeds in 1890 and part of the Keighley-based Vintage Carriages Trust collection, is to undergo a three-year refit.

It will make its last public appearance on September 23 and 24 at the Middleton Railway steam extravaganza in Leeds, near where it was originally built.

A trust spokesman says: "It is to undergo a complete overhaul, including the replacement of all the boiler tubes. Health and safety legislation means that we have to do this every ten years."

The old-fashioned open cab engine, which allows spectators to see the driver and fireman, was used in The Railway Children series in 1968, two years before the famous film was made.