A FEMALE student will be the first woman fireman to step on to the footplate in the 30 years that the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway has been running weekend steam trains.

Frances Hellewell, 19, recently qualified and will perform her first duty since passing the rigorous fireman's exam on Sunday.

She is proud to have achieved this first and will be following in her father's footsteps, because he also works on the railway.

Frances is quick to insist that she doesn't want a special title. She says: "The job is called a fireman and that's what I am now!"

Her father is Nick Hellewell, a steam driver who appeared as fireman in the original film of The Railway Children, which was filmed on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway in 1970.

He says: "She has worked hard and deserved to pass. Frances has always been keen to help out, and has enjoyed helping me to work on steam engines over the years.

"It's great to see the hard work pay off and now she can work alongside me on the engine."

Nick's other daughter, Emma, 17, is also in training for another first -- the railway's first woman signalman.

While other volunteer heritage railways struggle to attract any volunteers at all, and certainly few under middle age, the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway is proud to support and welcome all ages.

The railway's publicity officer Matt Stroh explains: "The railway recognises the important role younger people play.

"They are the future of the railway. We are proud that one of our vice-chairmen is only 25 and three members of the governing body are even younger.

"There are plenty of other young people training in the railway's various departments."