A RAILWAY enthusiast is celebrating 50 years at a heritage steam station.

Sid Edwards, 71, first joined the team at the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway in 1975 where for seventeen years he did various jobs as a volunteer.

Later he joined the railway as a full-time member where he worked as a booking clerk, controller and diesel driver.

Since his first day, Sid has been involved with the railway in all sorts of ways. He was a leading light in the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway Preservation Society as editor of their magazine. 

After a break, in 2019, he decided to rejoin the group.

"I lost my wife in 2018. It was a hell of a shock to the family and I was in a bad place mentally because of it so I decided to join in again," he said.

As a treat to his achievement, Driver Phil invited Sid into River Mite's footplate for a round trip of the railway. Incidentally, River Mite was the engine that Sid rode on 50 years ago. Guarding the train was David who Sid remembered training as a guard when David was just a teenager.

Currently, Sid can be found working as a station master, running the museum for a day or working as the platform assistant.

His interest in trains started from a young age when he used to go to the railway stations Whittington High Level and Whittington Low Level in Shropshire with his grandmother.

Both sides of the family worked in the railways with his grandparents working as railmen.

Over the fifty years as a volunteer, he has worked with third-generation families and met celebrities such as Peter Davidson, Alfred Wainwright and William Whitelaw when a new engine called Cumbria was launched in 1992 for Japan.

He was 'busy selling tickets' on the day when the crew from Coronation Street came to film an episode at the station. 

On his wedding day, he drove the train from Ravenglass to Eskdale and his best man was the train guard.

"I preferred to be a guard because you deal with a lot of people throughout the day and you get up and down the lane - I have always enjoyed doing that," he said.

"I like it because you meet people across the country and youngsters enjoy it."

For the people who want to take on a volunteer role, he said: "Come and give it a try."