An Edinburgh-based train driver has won a European transport photography competition for his stunning photograph of a passenger train near Ballencrieff.

Stephen Gorman of CrossCountry has won the Arriva Photo of the Year 2011 award for his dramatic image taken looking east towards North Berwick, with North Berwick Law providing stunning background terrain.

His image of the CrossCountry train was judged alongside other finalists’ images from across the Arriva group for the annual award. His eye for a picture has netted him a total of £675 in prizes from Arriva’s photo competition this year.

Stephen, aged 44, is from Gullane, East Lothian. He said: “I can remember that day was very cold and I was standing in a foot and a half of snow to get the photo.”

Stephen has been interested in photography for 20 years, starting after a friend introduced him to the hobby. He favours a Nikon D3 camera, however his winning image was taken with a Nikon D200 with a telephoto lens.

Arriva chief executive, David Martin, said: “The standard of photography that the competition attracts is extremely high. Stephen’s image is a very worthy winner and is testament to his photographic tenacity.”

The competition, open to all 47,500 Arriva employees across 12 countries, receives hundreds of entries every year from staff across Europe.

James Dark of New Transit magazine, which judged the competition, said: “Congratulations to the finalists on your powerful and beautiful pictures. It was no easy task to pick a winner, but for us Stephen’s image just stood out.

“We felt that the impression of the train powering through the snow at a time when transport in many parts of the country was at a standstill conveyed the strength of the rail network. And of course the picture captured perfectly the glorious surroundings that can make travelling by train a real joy.”