The steam drivers of tomorrow

I overheard a conversation between a platform volunteer and a driver at the SVR yesterday. The young volunteer was thanking the driver for letting me him have a go at firing the previous day. The driver responded by saying "no problem, it's important everyone gets a chance as that is the only way people can learn. I hope to see you on the footplate in the future and perhaps I can train you".
As long as our senior footplate crew are as open and friendly as the above member of staff our railways will have no issue at all - the grin on the lad's face said it all!

 

This story made my day!
Thanks for sharing it!

regards,
Knut

 

For the slightly younger, aged about 12-15, we had in early July a youth camp. This was for the third year in a row with about 10 participants each year.
Firing and driving was by far the most popular activity during the week although this was only done on a side track within the Mariefred yard.
In regular service they were ticket collectors and braked the train (together with a qualified brakeman). Changing sleepers was not quite as popular.
Takes some effort to run these camps, but we hope that we will get volunteers in the long run.

 

While volunteering at the WHHR last week I was heartened to find I was the oldest crew member (driver, fireman and guard) operating on 3 of the 4 days I worked and I am not yet passed 40.