Twenty three year old Andrew Jeremy Smith, of Leura, was on a City Rail train travelling between Katoomba and Lithgow around midday on Thursday March 24 and was the only passenger in the upper deck when he set fire to a pile of newspaper on a seat.

Sen Constable Steve Giffney said in a statement of facts tendered to the Court that when the train was near Mt Victoria the guard investigated a burning smell around the air conditioning ducts.

Entering the top deck he saw he saw burning newspaper on a seat and a young male passenger walking away from the scene.

That person was the only passenger in that section of the train at the time.

The guard was able to douse the fire then confronted the male passenger who denied any knowledge of the incident.

When the train arrived at Lithgow interchange the suspect initially eluded police and railway staff by mingling with other passengers but was later found hiding on the station and arrested.

At the time he was in possession of a Coca Cola bottle containing a quantity of glue.

Later at Lithgow police station Smith admitted lighting the fire on the seat ‘to keep warm’

He also admitted to sniffing glue prior to the offence.

Magistrate Georgia Knight sentenced Smith to two years jail on the charge of damaging property by fire.

She set a non parole period of 18 months.

Taking into account the time already served since being taken into custody he will not be eligible for release until at least September 23 next year.