FOUR kittens rescued from a diesel engine are in purr-fect health according to the RSPCA.

The week-old moggies were recovered after their mother walked into the cat-trap at the Elsecar Heritage Centre on Saturday.

Now the mother and kittens are recovering from their ordeal at an RSPCA centre.

Feral co-ordinator Lindsay Oldfield said: “They’re all doing really well at the moment. The kittens have just started opening their eyes.

“There are two ginger boys, one chocolate-brown and ginger girl and one black and tan girl.” A fifth kitten died before it could be rescued.

The litter was discovered when work began on the locomotive following its delivery from Wakefield last week.

Railway volunteer Andrew Briddon had heard the kittens but could only get to them after the feral mother had been caught.

Preservation group chairman Malcolm Banks said: “Andrew had to climb through the wheels and through the frame of the loco to get to them. His arms were only just long enough to reach.”

Staff at the centre asked for the mother to be named after the engine. And ‘Mrs Teddy Bear’ is now thought to have crossed more than a county border to get to Elsecar.

Malcolm said: “Apparently there was a cat onboard when RMS Locotech bought the engine from Scotland two years ago. We think that it must be the same one.”

Now the new family will be carefully monitored until the kittens are ready to leave their mother. Suitable homes will be found but the mother will be neutered and returned to her territory in Wakefield. Lindsay said: “We have to take her back as a feral cat would fight in a different colony - they are very different to domesticated cats.”