An over-heated braking system is believed to be the cause of a small fire in a KiwiRail locomotive, about 3km south of Palmerston last night.
Emergency services were alerted to the incident about 8.30pm.
The brakes were cooled by Palmerston firefighters without incident, and no injuries were reported.
A KiwiRail spokesman said the freight train was headed to Christchurch and was able to continue to its destination without assistance.
