From the Bristol Evening Post
The Avon Valley Railway is holding an open day to recruit new volunteers.
The railway, from Bitton to Oldland Common and the River Avon, is run by voluntee rs, and rail enthusiasts are being invited to help keep it operating.
The organisation needs people to work as guards and signallers, restore stock and lay new track, as well as raise funds, man the railway shop and help with administration.
Volunteers will give tours and explain what goes on behind the scenes.
Stuart Hobday, an AVR spokesman who also volunteers as a ticket collector, said: "The Avon Valley Railway has three full-time staff and 12 part-time, but it is run by almost 100 volunteers.
"These staff work very hard to keep the railway running, improving what we have and helping return steam to the Avon Valley. The railway is growing in popularity, and we always need new volunteers to help out. There are a huge variety of jobs that need doing.
"We need people to help the carriage and wagon department, which is responsible for the restoration and maintenance of rolling stock, and also volunteers to join permanent way, which looks after the track.
"We are also looking for people to help out in the buffet car, preparing and serving three-course meals, as well as green-fingered people to help with the station garden and for volunteers to help in the shop and with fundraising.
"You don't have to have any special experience, skills or huge amounts of spare time, just bags of enthusiasm."
Avon Valley Railway was formed in the 1970s as The Bristol Suburban Railway Society, with the goal of re-opening the Mangotsfield to Bath branch line.
For more than 30 years staff and volunteers have preserved and restored steam trains and worked tirelessly to re-lay the former LMS Mangotsfield to Bath railway, which helped link the south coast to the rest of the country.
Today, the AVR attracts more than 100,000 visitors every year, and trains run from the revamped station at Bitton to Oldland Common and back down the line to the River Avon.
Mr Hobday said: "Volunteering with the AVR is a fun job and a great way of enjoying your leisure time. Some people just love the romance of steam, while others enjoy restoring things from a bad state of repair."
The open day is from 11am on Saturday, March 1, at Bitton Station.