CHILDREN from Stockton were given a ticket to ride to learn about safety on the railways.

Youngsters from Hartburn Primary School joined other youngsters on a visit to the National Railway Museum in York.

They took part in Track Wise events on Thursday and their trip included a tour of some of the locomotives and other exhibits.

But there was also a serious message and the importance of safety was taught to the children using interactive technology and videos.

"It was an absolutely brilliant day out and the children got an awful lot out of it," said year six teacher Margaret Morgan.

"The video was quite shocking but it worked and really got an important message across because it was about a real boy who died while playing near the tracks.

"But as well as that, there were a lot of fun things for the children to do and mostly they seemed to enjoy the train journey getting there because children don't seem to use rail travel very much these days."

Arriva Trains Northern joined forces with Network Rail and the British Transport Police to organise the day for youngsters from Teesside, Hull and Leeds