TRAIN drivers on the Wensleydale Railway have been accused of tooting too much.

A resident is compiling a dossier of evidence against the railway, which runs passenger trains between Leeming Bar and Redmire.

Well-known community campaigner Bernard Borman has already taken the company to court, claiming drivers were breaking the law by blowing the train whistle inappropriately.

The complaint was rejected in July this year by magistrates in Northallerton.

An earlier complaint to Richmondshire District Council was also dismissed after an investigation by environmental health officers.

However, Mr Borman, from Leyburn, said he was working on a fresh dossier of evidence which he would hand to the district authority.

He said: "I'm pro-Wensleydale Railway and railways in general. But if they want to operate a railway, they have to realise it's not a toy.

"It goes past people's homes and gardens they should operate with respect and they should operate in accordance with the law.

"My home is 50yds away and they blow the steam whistle, which is 120 decibels and several times the sound of an aeroplane, for amusement.

"When you're sat in your garden on a sunny day having a sleep, you jump out of your skin it could cause a heart attack."

Mr Borman said research by the World Health Organisation, which claims 3,000 people died in the UK in 2006 of noise-related heart disease, supported his case.

The Wensleydale Railway was represented in court by David Morgan, a lawyer and chairman of the Heritage Railway Association.

He said: "The whistle is blown for safety reasons. You give a poop when the visibility on the line is poor, when approaching a level crossing, when you approach a location where there may be people on the track and, lastly, before the train leaves the station we've been doing it since 1825.

"There was an allegation by Mr Borman we were showing off, which is complete nonsense."

Ruth Annison, chairman of the Wensleydale Railway, declined to comment, other than to say no complaints about whistle noise had been received recently.