Bluebell Railway line appoints its youngest ever driver

A steam railway line has appointed the youngest driver in its 64-year history.

Ben Gray was given a drivers card on his 21st birthday in December, after more than a decade with the Bluebell Railway.

Mr Gray first started volunteering with the Bluebell Railway's youth club at the age of nine.

He said: "It is great. You have got an amazing amount of power under your fingertips, so you can't describe it really."

The youngest age a driver can officially take to the rails is 21.

Mr Gray said: "It has just always been something I have been interested in."

The Bluebell Railway runs steam trains between Sheffield Park and East Grinstead, stopping at Horsted Keynes and Kingscote.

A Bluebell Railway spokesperson said Mr Gray's progression was "rapid" after joining the locomotive department as a cleaner when he was 16.

Mr Gray, whose father Tim is a locomotive engineering director, also became a fireman before being recommended to be added to the Bluebell Railway's driver training programme in early 2023.

A spokesperson from the railway said: "The railway is extremely lucky to have a range of younger volunteers who, like Ben, wish to keep steam alive."

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