THE wheel may have come off a prized exhibit, but that was one of only two dampeners on a fantastic celebration of rail in York.

National Railway Museum chiefs today estimated that more than 60,000 people visited the museum and RailFest, the Leeman Road attraction's event to mark 200 years of rail travel.

The festival saw the slightly fraught homecoming of the Flying Scotsman, when technical problems meant it had to be pulled into the museum instead of arriving in steam as planned.

But the festival saw the successful unveiling of the new TransPennine Express train and a host of rides and attractions that brought the crowds to York.

The second hitch came when an axle broke on the replica locomotive Penydarren while it was steaming during a display, but the problem was quickly fixed.

An NRM spokesman said the event, which finished yesterday, had been a huge success. "It has been absolutely fantastic - one of the biggest events we have ever run here.

"It was a big celebration of over 200 years. It has taken us more than two years to plan this properly. It has just been great and people have really enjoyed it."

Updated: 10:53 Monday, June 07, 2004