A unique house where Thomas the Tank Engine books were written is up for sale.

The price tag for the eight-bedroomed Victorian vicarage where the Reverend Wilbert Awdry wrote seven of the 26 Thomas books is £650,000.

Mr Awdry was vicar of St Edmund's church, Emneth, in the Norfolk fenland near Wisbech. Thomas and his creator are immortalised in a stained glass window in the church.

The house's current owner, rail fan Mark Thatcher, has several model railways in the house and gardens.

He told the Eastern Daily Press: "We're delighted to say that after four decades the trains are running at the old vicarage."

Mr Awdry had a complicated model railway on the top floor of the vicarage to amuse his son Christopher.

The sale is being handled by estate agents Harrison Murray in Wisbech (01945 465432).

Information from the Eastern Daily Press.