A RAILWAY worker nicknamed the ''Fat Controller'' was jailed yesterday for stealing train engines and coaches to sell on to enthusiasts, including pop impresario Pete Waterman.

Barry Daly - who was sentenced to 27 months, with half suspended - pled guilty at an earlier hearing to five counts of stealing locomotives and railway stock and two of the theft of money from prospective customers.

At that time, railway worker Daly, 43, who was employed by English Scottish and Welsh Railways, admitted the theft of four locomotives, 30 wagons, six passenger coaches and three breakdown coaches.

Daly, from Sweet Briar Crescent, Crewe, Cheshire, also admitted stealing #42,900 from the Waterman Railway Heritage Trust and #1,000 from another railway collector.

Daly was told yesterday by Chester Crown Court judge, Recorder Quentin Querrelle, that he would serve half his sentence in prison with the other half suspended, three-quarters of that period on licence.

He told Daly: ''The value of those items (the locomotives and railway stock) is in the order of #53,000. You assumed ownership of those items, you did so in a position of trust, a position where you had no authority whatsoever.''

He accepted that Daly had previously been of good character, well known in his home town.

''You were a person who developed a greed for money that was paid to you which was not passed on to those to whom it should have been,'' said the judge. He told Daly he had not only been trusted by his employers, but also by the Waterman Railway Heritage Trust and the other collector he stole from.

Daly was working as a depot supervisor at Crewe railway station when he carried out the offences between January 1996 and January 1998, said Robin Spencer, prosecuting.

Daly had worked in the railway business since 1975, coming under the employment of English Welsh and Scottish Railways in November 1997 after it was formed through privatisation, the court heard. Mr Spencer said Daly resigned in January 1998 after his arrest over the thefts.

It was in his capacity as yard supervisor in the sidings at Crewe station that Daly began his scam, he added.

''From time to time redundant locomotives became available for sale and there is a ready market for such items to railway preservation societies and they also have a scrap value,'' said Mr Spencer.

''One such society was the Waterman Trust, founded and run by the well-known entertainment entrepreneur Peter Waterman. ''The defendant got to know Mr Waterman very well as an enthusiast for trains in his spare time.

''He also got to know very well Tony Mosely of the Trust, as he had worked with him in another local heritage trust in Crewe.

''So it was that the defendant came to tell Mr Mosely and Mr Waterman in 1995 that he had been authorised to clear out the sidings in preparation for rail privatisation. They were interested in purchasing stock if the price was right and they were hopeful that by negotiating through him he would be able to achieve for them a more competitive price.''

Mr Spencer said Daly never had authority to sell the stock and kept the money paid to him by the Trust and #1000 from another collector he had taken as deposit for a train he told him he could purchase. ''In this case there were two victims. The defendant has acted in breach of trust to both sides,'' he said .

Daly was ''assuming the rights of an owner over his employer's property that in law amounts to an appropriation''.

He said Daly then shunted the stock into sidings belonging to the Waterman Trust or allowed them to take it away by road to scrap and sell on. ''No-one thought to challenge or question his actions for shunting these items around. After all, he was the supervisor,'' said Mr Spencer.

What became of the #43,000 paid to him for the stock is unknown, he told the court. However, Daly had debts after two divorces and borrowing from loan sharks and had been on two foreign holidays.

In all, the stock stolen was worth about #53,000 and cash and cheques totalled #43,900, the court heard.