NEARLY £65,000 was raised by a train operator and a magazine for a brain tumour charity in a special trip on a heritage railway.

CrossCountry and Modern Railways, in partnership with Swanage Railway, raised the funds for The Brain Tumour Charity, as CrossCountry retired its High-Speed Train (HST) fleet.

A special final one-off trip took passengers from Leeds to Swanage in support of the charity.

The trip raised a total of £63,022.12 through ticket, merchandise, food and drink sales on the day.

The charity was chosen in memory of much-loved CrossCountry colleague Jo Taylor.

A further £1866.90 was donated by attendees at Modern Railways’ annual Golden Spanner awards, bringing the total to £64,889.02, which was announced at the ceremony.

Tom Joyner, CrossCountry’s managing director, said: “It was important to mark the contributions of not only our high speed trains that have served us so well for over 40 years, but also the generations of colleagues who have worked tirelessly to maintain them.

"It’s also been a privilege to raise so much money for such a worthy cause - just another example of what can be accomplished by colleagues across the rail industry working together.”

Philip Sherratt, editor of modern railways magazine, said: "It was a privilege for Modern Railways to work with CrossCountry to mark the withdrawal of their iconic HST fleet and to see the interest the farewell tour generated, as well as to have raised such a phenomenal amount of money.”

Hannah Bowler, corporate partnership manager at The Brain Tumour Charity, said: “We are so grateful for the support of everyone at CrossCountry. It’s been such a pleasure working with the team and it’s incredible that nearly £65,000 has been raised in memory of their colleague Jo Taylor.

“The effort from everyone involved will allow us to continue growing our support services, accelerate change in brain tumour diagnosis and treatment, and to invest in vital research for all those affected.”