I was born in Shrewsbury in July 1986 and I spent my formative years in Newtown, Powys in Wales before moving to London with my family and having missed Wales dreadfully I am happy to say we moved back to Welshpool in 1996. I attended Maes Y Dre junior school before moving onto Welshpool High School, my interest in trains developed at a very early age and as I matured so did my interest in steam locomotives and railways and my family took me to steam railways at the weekends and during school holidays and at this time we lived across the road from the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway's Welshpool terminus at Raven Square which is situated at the top of Welshpool town.

I became a member of the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway when we moved back to Wales from London in 1996 and I spent a lot of time travelling on the railway at weekends and I did become well known by the volunteers on the railway due to travelling on the line regularly.

On my 16th birthday I started volunteering on the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railways as a trainee fireman on the steam locomotives but I also started working on the track in the winter when the line was not running. I also started training to be a Guard on the line and also did some volunteering in the gift shops at both Welshpool and Llanfair station's during the running season.

In 2009 I decided to start volunteering on the Talyllyn Railway as I wanted to experience volunteering on another steam railway in Wales. I am currently training in many area on the railway and currently I hold a Cleaners and Assistant Guard grade cards and I am now working towards getting passed out as a Blockman in the very near future on the Talyllyn Railway. During my time volunteering on both the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway and The Talyllyn Railway most people I have met have asked me if I worked on trains or railways as my paid job and they are shocked to find out that this is not the case and that my paid is much different to my volunteer role on the Talyllyn Railway. I work in a retail supermarket as a paid job since leaving school and spend my spare time volunteering on the Talyllyn Railway during the Summer.

The pages contained within this website are intended to express my interest in both the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway and the Talyllyn Railway with particular the steam locomotives on both of the railways and the surrounding areas of the railways. Also to share the many photo's I take of both the railways and also other railways in the United Kingdom and abroad when I am on my holidays away from Wales.

Also within the website there will be picture galleries containing pictures from special events on both the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway and the Talyllyn Railway and also some special pages on particular subjects during the year.

I hope you find the website and the pages contained within the website informative and of interest and if you have any questions or feedback on the website please do not hesitate to get in contact with me using the contact the webmaster link at the bottom of this page and also in the navigation bar to the left

Graham Slade