A ticket collector told this afternoon how he spotted a runaway family - who have been missing since September - on a North Yorkshire steam train.

Jeff and Jennifer Bramley with their foster children Jade and Hannah Bennett

Grosmont station on the North York Moors

The Rev Jack Cooper, a retired vicar who works as a volunteer on the North York Moors railway, said he believed Jeff and Jennifer Bramley took their foster daughters Jade and Hannah Bennett on the Grosmont to Pickering train on Saturday.

He said Mrs Bramley looked anorexic and ill, and the children, aged five and three, were playing up and disobedient. He told how he tried to calm them down by telling a story about five-legged sheep that lived alongside the line.

A team of police from Cambridgeshire arrived in North Yorkshire today to follow up the lead, which is just one of 30 reported sightings since the Bramley's car was found abandoned in York last week.

Mr Cooper, the travelling ticket inspector aboard the 1350 Grosmont to Pickering service on Saturday, said the train had just passed Levisham when he went to sit down for a few moments in one of the carriages.

Mr Cooper told the Evening Press: "The particular coach they were in was a newly-upholstered coach. The children were playing up and being disobedient and generally making mayhem.

"I was a bit unhappy that the parents were not making any attempt to control them because of the coach being newly upholstered, so I intervened."

He said he told the two girls travelling with the couple a story about the 'five-legged sheep' that lived alongside the line in the hope they would sit quietly and look out of the window.

Mr Cooper said: "As soon as I saw the item on GMTV yesterday morning, I turned to my wife Anne and said 'Oh my gosh, I had them on the train on Saturday'."

Recalling the couple he now believes were Mr and Mrs Bramley, he said: "She had a very thin face, with very pinched cheeks - she looked anorexic and looked quite ill.

"To be honest, the man with her looked the same. They looked inadequate. They had no idea of how to quieten the children down or at least were not making any attempt."

Police said the reported sighting was very encouraging, and appealed for anyone else who saw the family, particularly at Grosmont or Pickering, to get in touch on 01480 422393.

PC Pete Morley said: "We want to know how they got to Grosmont, and where they went to when they got to Pickering. How did they get on at Grosmont?"

He said no sighting could be confirmed until the family were found.

Officers investigating the Bramleys' disappearance switched their attention to North Yorkshire last Wednesday when their blue Honda Concerto, registration G152 SHR, was found abandoned in Scarcroft Hill, York.

Cambridgeshire police will be targeting garages in North Yorkshire which may have supplied two replacement Pirelli tyres for the Bramley family car. The front tyres had recently been replaced, possibly to enable the car to pass its MoT - which was due in November. Police were also conducting inquiries in Pickering and Grosmont today.

The Bramleys, who have no children of their own, had hoped to adopt Jade and Hannah after caring for them since March 1998.

But they vanished shortly before a scheduled meeting with social services staff. It is thought they had withdrawn a large amount of cash. Last month, a High Court judge involved in proceedings concerning the children appealed for public help in tracing the family.

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