RAILWAY engineer Allan Pyne has thanked everyone who sponsored him to take part in a Three Peaks challenge.

Civic engineer Allan, 44, from Dawlish, was part of a team of four workmates who raised £4,500 by taking part in the challenge in aid of the charity the Railway Children.

He gave a talk in Dawlish about his experiences at an event held at the Methodist Church, showing slides of the team on top of the peaks and explaining about the work of the charity.

This was the second time Allan, who works for engineering firm Amey as part of its railway contracts team based in Exeter, had completed the peaks of Snowdon, Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike.

The annual event sees teams of railway staff tackle the challenge to raise money for the charity which helps runaway children in the UK and youngsters begging on railway stations in India.

Allan explained: 'I wanted to thank everyone in Dawlish who supported me and donated money. Thanks to the team for without them, I could not have raised the money.'

The Railway Children charity was set up more than 15 years ago and receives support from Comic Relief. Its funds are split between helping runaway children in the UK and the railway station children in India.

The Three Peaks challenge saw 40 teams of railway staff taking part with Allan's team, called Sick and Tired, coming in 12th.

Rail companies including First Great Western and Virgin assist with providing a special train to take teams between the three locations as well as food. The total raised by all the teams was more than £150,000.