In a shed at the end of a siding lived the locomotive of the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway Preservation Society Limited which was a long name for a little engine so her friends called her Countess.

Countess In The Loco Shed

I was rostered as driver on Saturday 25th of October. My fellow crew members were  Miles (Trainee Driver) and Triston (Fireman). When we started preparing Countess it was still dark and the sky was full of stars and as the dawn crept in the temperature outside dropped. The clear sky was soon covered in cloud and a damp gloom settle over the Banwy valley.

Filling Countess’s Axleboxes With Oil

 The engine was coupled onto the train by nine-thirty and the steam heating was turned on to take the chill off the carriages. You know that winter can’t be far away when you see a trail of steam emerging…