RAILWAY companies have taken a lot of stick in recent times so it was nice to hear of a railway that has been building up a head of steam.

Not only that but its small trains always run on time and are never cancelled. Well, almost never.

"The only day that we haven't run trains, said Jim Shackell, co-owner of Evesham Vale Light Railway, "was that day in October when we had high winds and there wasn't anyone here that day anyway."

But every weekend and all half-term last week, Jim and his wife, Helen, from Witney in Oxfordshire, have been running their quarter-sized steam engines at Evesham Country Park, where they have operated since last August.

So what are an Oxfordshire couple doing running their mini-trains here in Evesham?

"That's a good question," he said. "Myself and my wife had been collecting this equipment for some time and then we had to look for a site.

"We hadn't got a big enough garden and there didn't seem to be anywhere near to where we lived. Then we came past the park three or four years ago and I spoke to one of the managers and it went from there.

"It's a nice location," he continued. "On one side you get views of the Cotswolds and on the other side you can see the Malverns. We didn't want something that was just in the middle of a field."

The Shackells are presently using two trains on the half-mile circuit and have other locomotives which they hope to bring to the railway at a later date. It is also hoped to extend the track to about a mile.

Each train pulls two carriages seating 30 people in total. They run every 30 minutes on the half-hour from the station near the car park.

"We take people from the car park into the park itself and it gives you the experience of being pulled by a real steam engine," he said.

He said the railway was a childhood dream come true for them as they both have family ties with the railway industry.

Jim, who is also a skilled coach painter and sign writer, had annual family holidays in Mid Wales, where miniature and narrow gauge railways featured strongly. He also did some volunteering in the locomotive department on the Talyllyn Railway and has many interests in traction engines and steamboats.

Helen's father was chief foreman of the erecting shop at BR Swindon and her grandfather worked for the Great Western Railway as a locomotive footplateman. She was also a manager for Railtrack.

Jim said that starting the railway was always going to be a risk.

"It was a bit of a gamble and cost a fair bit of money.

"We had to put the effort in to start off with but it has been a labour of love," he said.

The Evesham Vale Light Railway runs every weekend and every day in the school holidays at Evesham Country Park from 10.30am.