TWO elderly rail passengers averted a possible disaster when they pulled a large sign off the track seconds before a train arrived.

Brian Exley, 67, and Gordon Cherry, 74, jumped onto the tracks at Dodworth station to move the information board which had been blown loose by gale force winds last Thursday.

The daring pensioners were still struggling with the sign when the level crossing barrier came down and the lights started flashing.

They managed to remove the last piece of debris just before the 6.07 pulled in. The men had got up early to catch the first train to Huddersfield, because Gordon, who lives on Broadway, was flying to Canada from Manchester that morning.

Brian, who lives on Helston Crescent, Monk Bretton, only noticed the obstacle on the track when he went back to re-park his car.

“It’s blowing straight off the moors and we had our heads down because of the driving rain.

“We had about five minutes before the train arrived, and I said I'm not happy how the car's parked.

“As I came back down, I noticed like a big post with the sign and all the train information on it on that had been blown off.

“If you imagine a goal post, the uprights were on the platform and the rest of it was across the track.

“I shouted to Gordon, ‘Ey up, we’re gonna ‘ave to shift this, train's due’.” “Gordon gave a hand, and we dragged it off to the side, by which time the barriers had gone down.

A Network Rail spokesman said that although the men were obviously acting in good conscience, they should not have endangered their own lives by going on the track.