The days when train sets were for boys and girls played with dolls are long gone.

But when it comes to real locomotives, women are still on the wrong side of the tracks, making up only around one in 20 train drivers.

Now a rail firm wants more female drivers, saying trains aren’t just for ‘little boys’.

Southeastern aims to raise the number of female applicants to 40 per cent by 2021

Southeastern, which serves London, Kent and East Sussex, aims to raise the number of female applicants to 40 per cent by 2021.

Fewer than 5 per cent of the firm’s drivers – just 54 out of 1,133 – are women, a figure in line with other operators in Britain. It said driving a train was ‘traditionally a very male pursuit’, so it will hold recruitment days for women.

Train services director Ellie Burrows said: ‘It’s high time we broke the perception of the railways as a male-dominated industry.

‘Society has moved on. It’s no longer the case that little boys play with toy trains and little girls play with dolls.

‘It’s vital that as a major transport operator we have a workforce that reflects the diversity of our passengers.’