"A good locomotive driver has to be patient, calm, and collected. If a person jumps onto the track the driver must react carefully and keep in control." - Paul Lewin, general manager, Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway.
 
I first visited the Ffestiniog Railway on holiday when I was 13.
 
The driver knew my father and let me drive a locomotive called "Blanche".
 
I was hooked.
 
I learned to be a volunteer locomotive fireman when I was 15.
 
I bunked off school for a couple of weeks and adjusted my age by a year so they thought I was old enough.
 
A fireman keeps the fire of the engine going.
 
It's a skilled job.
 
I became a qualified driver at 24.
 
For more than a decade I worked for an oil company, and drove locos as a volunteer at weekends.
 
I took the leap to work for the railway full time six years ago when I became general manager.
 
2009 is an exciting year for the railway because, after 10 years of effort, the rebirth of the Welsh Highland Railway will be completed this autumn when it links with the Ffestiniog Railway, creating a spectacular 40 mile railway through Snowdonia, from Caernarfon to Blaenau Ffestiniog.
 
The best part of the project was rescuing an old steam train from Africa.
 
We have spent the past three years overhauling it, and last week it was tested on the line outside my office window.
 
My job is fascinating because I manage every aspect of the railway, from making sure there are enough people to operate the trains to overseeing the construction of new locomotives.
 
The best thing about my job is the characters I work with.
 
We have 60 staff and a thousand volunteers.
 
I know 99 percent of them by their first name.
 
The worst thing about it is having to clean the toilets when there is no one else around!
 
My favourite section of the Ffestiniog Railway is the Aberglaslyn Pass.
 
It's a steep and narrow rocky gorge and the railway clings to one side.
 
The views are beautiful.
 
The best time of year for taking the railway is early spring, before the trees are covered in leaves, which can restrict the views, or autumn, when the colours are fantastic.
 
The railway is home for me, literally, as I live in the stationmaster's house at Minffordd with my wife and four-year-old daughter, plus bats, mice, and sheep outside the window.
 
Nicola Iseard.