Hundreds of passengers were evacuated from Didcot Parkway railway station after an express train caught fire.

Seven fire engines raced to the scene at about 10.30am on Saturday following reports that flames were leaping from one of the train's engines.

Firefighters used foam to put out the blaze which is thought to have started in the exhaust of the First Great Western Swansea to London Paddington service.

Passengers said there was confusion as people filtered out of the carriages and spotted the plumes of black smoke billowing from the engine.

Alison Brumfitt, from Didcot, said: "We could see the flames and the smoke coming from the back of the train. There were also around seven fire engines at the scene, which don't turn up for no reason."

Fellow passenger Zarin Haynsworth said: "To be honest, it was complete chaos. Nobody seemed to have a clue what was going on. We just got off the train and all followed this one man like sheep."

The express had stopped at Didcot when station staff spotted a fire in the rear engine and called the fire brigade.

The 400 passengers were taken on to platform four and then out of the station complex.

Meanwhile, hundreds of other travellers were ushered out of the station while emergency crews dealt with the incident.

There were thought to be more than 800 people outside the station at one point, according to British Transport Police.

Pc Bob Burrowes said nobody was injured during the incident and the station was reopened about three hours later. He said fires in the 125mph express trains were very unusual.

Fire service incident officer and group manager Steve Harrison praised station staff for the way they evacuated the train.

Mr Harrison said: "Everything went very smoothly both for us and the station staff. We have rehearsed a situation like this many times and everything went according to plan.

"We had firefighters from Didcot, Wallingford, Abingdon, Kidlington, Woodstock, Wheatley and Eynsham."

First Great Western duty manager Geoff Capes said: "Obviously there was a great deal of disruption to services - there was nothing we could do about that.

"The safety of passengers and rail and fire service personnel was the main priority. After an hour, we could let the trains stranded at each end of the station leave and they went through slowly.

"Then we opened up one platform so that we could get people moving to their destinations again."

Passengers had already endured delays on the Swansea to Paddington route because of engineering work.

One couple who had the shortest train journey of their lives were James and Valerie Coupland, from Icknield Way, Didcot.

Mr Coupland said: "We were off to London and got in the first-class carriage expecting to get moving straight away.

"Then the driver said there was a problem with one power unit, then a few minutes later said we had to evacuate the train. We still carried on to London after the trains got moving again."

Hundreds of rugby fans were delayed as they tried to make it to Twickenham for the England versus Scotland clash.

Many headed to Didcot pubs and clubs to kill time until trains began running again - confident they would make the 4pm kick-off.