As older volunteers step down, a shortage of younger ones is worrying the industry

Nathan Au began volunteering on the Swanage railway at the age of 17. Ten years on, he is a fully fledged driver and he loves being at the controls of the great steam and diesel engines that trundle through the Dorset countryside.

“It’s lovely to work on these really elegant old heritage machines,” he said. “They’ve all got their quirks – even engines of the same class behave in different ways. You have to learn to know what they like and what they don’t want.”