A STEAM train driver was knocked unconscious when thugs hit him with a stone while travelling onboard.

John Hobbs of Wessex Close, Woolston, was struck on the head by the missile while on the footplate of an East Lancashire Railway (ELR) locomotive travelling from Bury’s Bolton Street Station to Heywood, Greater Manchester.

The father-of-two said: “I can’t get my head round the fact that anyone could be so malicious.”

The 61-year-old, who was undergoing driver training, had stitches at Bury's Fairfield Hospital following Sunday’s attack.

Later the same day at the same spot, stone-throwers targeted another train, but no-one was injured.

Volunteer driver Mr Hobbs, who has been a member of ELR for 17 years, was at the controls of the loco alongside driver trainer Malcolm Frost when the gang struck on a stretch of line near Heywood Distribution Park.

He remembers seeing a group of three youths stood away from the track just before he was struck.

Mr Hobbs added: “As I came past, they suddenly aimed rocks at the footplate and they must have been no more than 12ft away.

“One hit me on the head and broke my glasses. It cut me and as I began to bleed, I fell to the floor. It was lucky I didn’t impale myself on anything in the locomotive or burn myself.

“I want to know what would drive anyone to do what they did. What did they think would happen when they throw things at people? The three youths were quite well dressed, in black and with hoods.”

Mr Hobbs is determined to carry on working on the railways, but with more caution in future.

ELR general manager, Andy Coward said: “We are naturally angry that a member of staff should have been injured as a result of this incident and we hope the police will do everything in their powers to investigate and identify the offenders.