Vale of Rheidol's wheels for Aberystwyth Cliff Railway [BBC News]





Date: 08/07/2017

'When I tell people I'm a fireman, they think I put out fires and I've got to tell them I make them instead!' Aged 19, Jack Evans is working in one of the country's oldest and most nostalgic industries - the steam railway. 'It's always different, the weather's always different, you're always on with different people,' he said. 'I'm interested in engineering, I'm studying engineering at university at the moment and being here, it just ticks all the boxes for what I want to do later on.' He works alongside Jac Smith, who recently passed his steam engine driving test on his 21st birthday - making him one of the youngest in the job in the UK. Although the Vale of Rheidol line no longer carries lead ore from the mines, as it did between 1902 and the 1930s, it does carry tourists from the seaside town of Aberystwyth to nearby Devil's Bridge.


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Full steam ahead at railway workshop
Vale of Rheidol train

BBC News

A young workforce at a steam workshop makes parts for railways across the UK.