The three-wagon train was moving at slow speed when it left the tracks in Cheshire on Monday night.

It had reached Arpley goods sidings in Warrington, just before 2000 GMT, when the incident took place.

One of the wagons was carrying the chemicals butryl chloride and tetrafluroethane.

Neither substance is understood to have leaked from the wagon, as the wagon left the track, but did not topple over.

A spokeswoman for British Transport Police said: "There was no leak, nobody was injured and vandalism is not suspected."

Heavy lifting gear was brought in to winch the train back on to the line.

Fire crews were supervising the operation on Tuesday morning as a precaution.